Rwanda_may_2006_258This beautiful Rwandan lady is the very definition of dignity, and love in spite of and not because of.

During the genocide of 12 years ago in Rwanda, this young lady was raped, badly beaten and left for dead. Her tormentors then threw her into a pit, buried her alive, and left her for dead. Well, she did not die and today her spirit lives, somehow, someway.

She recounted this story to Ambassador Andrew Young, myself and the camera crew that Ambassador Young worked with on a new documentary on Rwanda during our recent trip there, and yet she has somehow found a way to do this – to face her demons and her pain – and to begin the healing and forgiveness process, and to move on with the business of living.

I cannot say I understand how she survived then physically, or now emotionally and spiritually, but survive she has. Just look at her. See for yourself the inner beauty, and deep, penetrating sense of dignity and warmth that seems to encompass her very being. Again, I don’t claim to know how she did it, because I am not that good and probably not that strong, but I do know that God has His loving arms around her. Nothing else makes any sense at all. More of these stories of survival through the storm to come in the days ahead.

Onward, with HOPE, John Hope Bryant

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