To Save One Life (Part 1)

For some reason the quote engraved on the glass panel caught my attention, “Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire.” It seemed ironic to see such a quote when photos of slaughtered genocide victims were plastered all over the surrounding walls. I was in the Genocide memorial in Kigali, Rwanda. This was my second visit to this city and to the memorial. I suppose on this occasion I had more time to read the background and absorb the magnitude of what happened on those streets 20 years previous.

It’s one thing to read about and view the photos of people who experienced such atrocities, and quite another to meet and speak with those who survived them. My friend Laurie and I had been invited to teach at our Youth With A Mission (YWAM) base on the School of Biblical Studies in Kigali. Four students from Rwanda, Burundi and the US were attending this three-month school, along with  

four staff members. Antoine was one of the students from Rwanda. I was curious about his story and how he came to be part of such a school so I asked him to share it with me. 

Antoine was born in Kigali 31 years ago. He was raised with his father and mother, one sister and two brothers. His Dad was addicted to alcohol so his home environment was not pleasant. Because of this, when he was seven or eight years old he would spend a lot of time away from home. Hanging around bad company led to the forming of many bad habits. In 1993, overwhelmed with the situation at home, his Mum left the family with the two youngest children. That was the last time Antoine saw them as they were massacred along with 800,000 other Tutsis during the genocide. He and his sister remained with their father where they lived under the constant fear of being discovered as Tutsis, and killed. Even though at one point people knew they were Tutsis, the genocide ended before anything happened to them. 

Eight years after the genocide was a very hopeless time for Antoine. He spent three and half years on the streets trying to do what he thought would bring him happiness – drugs, alcohol, etc. When he was in high school his aunt took him into her home. Despite this act of kindness he was still “living to die.”

Antoine had heard of Jesus when he was a child. At 19 years of age, he questioned life and its purpose. His prayer at that time, “God, I hope You can change my life. If You can’t, maybe it’s better I die.” Whenever he did attend church he felt guilty and condemned – believing it was impossible to change. He did well at school and his relatives didn’t know that he still had a drug problem. While at boarding school he would go out at night to use drugs and then return to his dorm and sleep. Around 2am, he would wake up to study. On one particular night, upon his return, there was no electricity. Afraid of failing because he couldn’t see to study, he asked God to turn the electricity back on and then found himself saying that if God would change his life, he would serve Him. There was no electricity for a week. Antoine continued his routine of going out at night to use drugs. As he was returning on one evening he met a fellow student who said the electricity had come back on. He remembered his original prayer and started to cry thinking of how meaningless his life was up until this point. A Christian Student Association meeting was going on as he was passing by. He walked in crying and shaking. When they gave the altar call, he went to the front and received Jesus into his life.

Still crying he returned to his room feeling like something was coming out of his body…