Witness to Rwanda genocide tells of ordeal

Ed Mahon

On the second night of the Rwandan genocide, the militias came to Carl Wilkens' gate. The men carried machetes and clubs, and had plans for robbery or worse.

CDT/Ed Mahon

Carl Wilkens, a witness to the Rwanda genocide who stayed in Rwanda when other Americans fled, here with wife Teresa, spoke Wednesday to State High students and at Penn State. .

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Neighbors, grandmothers with their own children to care for, stood in defense of Wilkens, his wife and three young children.

“These courageous women stood up in front of these guys and said, ‘You can’t go into that home,’ ” Wilkens told about 100 State College Area High School students during an assembly Wednesday. “They were rehumanizing us, with a couple of stories. You know what they told them? They said their kids play with our kids.”

Wilkens was living in Rwanda with his family when the genocide began with the assassination of President Juvénal Habyarimana on April 6, 1994.

He’s believed to be the only American to stay in the Rwandan capital of Kigali throughout the 100-day genocide, in which Hutu militias killed between 800,000 and 1 million Tutsi and Hutu political moderates.

“I didn’t realize how bad it was, how many people were killed in such a short time,” said State College sophomore Emily Bedell.

Bedell’s mother, Lori, was involved in bringing Wilkens to Penn State for a Wednesday evening talk. The younger Bedell had the idea to invite Wilkens to talk with State High students earlier in the day.

Wilkens originally went to Rwanda in 1990, six months before a three-year Rwandan civil war began with the invasion of northern Rwanda by Tutsi refugees from Uganda. He was there to build schools and operate health centers for the Adventist Development and Relief Agency, the humanitarian arm of the Seventh- Day Adventist Church.

His wife, Teresa, and three children — now 26, 23 and 21— evacuated with the other foreigners five days after the genocide began. Wilkens stayed behind, venturing daily into the streets and through roadblocks to bring food, water and medicine to a group of orphans trapped in the city. He’s credited with helping save hundreds of lives.

Using Google Maps, he showed State College students the city layout, the road where a young boy tried to rob him at gunpoint; the homes of neighbors who were killed; and the buildings where snipers would station themselves.

“They used to shoot at anything,” Wilkens said.

After the genocide ended in mid-July 1994, he left to meet up with his family, thinking it would be a two-week break. But his church didn’t feel it was safe enough for him to return for several months.

He and his family did eventually return to Rwanda and stayed there until September 1996.

“We then came back for another year and a half and helped in the rebuilding process, which was really, really valuable for our family. ...The genocide wasn’t the last chapter.”

Wilkens now lives in Spokane, Wash., and has been traveling this year with his wife, speaking to schools and community groups about his experience. For more information, visit http://pedaling2peace.org. Wilkens’ mission? Stop the ongoing genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan.

The assignment for students? Get involved and stay that way.

“We saw how a small action on his part can make such a difference. ... (It) can change so many lives and it can save so many lives,” said senior Sohayla Rostami.

Ed Mahon can be reached at 231-4619.