{{This week, Rwandans mark the 18th anniversary of the April 7, 1994, genocide that took place in their country. For many, this is a somber but very necessary exercise, and many will visit sites where their families and friends were killed.}}
On April 7th and April 8th, 2012, Rwandans and friends of Rwanda from across North America will gather in Washington D.C to remember the lives of over one million people who were killed during the genocide against Tutsi in Rwanda in 1994.
The keynote speech will be delivered by Carl Wilkens, an acclaimed human rights activist and the only American who chose to remain in Rwanda as the genocide against Tutsi unfolded, risking his life to deliver food, water, and money to those in desperate need.
In this story we are going to see who is this man and what he did during the genocide against Tutsi in Rwanda in 1994.
{{Who is Carl Wilkens?}}
According to wikipedia Carl Wilkens is the former head of theAdventist Development and Relief Agency International in Rwanda. In 1994, he was the only American who chose to remain in the country after the genocide began.
During the Rwandan Genocide against Tutsi in 1994 he sent his wife and three children with an American convoy toBurundi (US officials were afraid to use Kigali airport, so they evacuated their citizens by cars) and stayed in his home in Kigali with several friends.
The first three weeks were spent in his house, but when there was a possibility to go out and do anything to people, who were slaughtered every day, sometimes just meters away, he gave his all to help them. It was Wilkens who saved about 400 people from Gisimba Orphanage.
One day, when Carl arrived at Gisimba, he saw more than 50 armed militiamen who were, it was quite obvious, waiting for an occasion to kill everyone inside the orphanage, but his presence there apparently stopped them. So Wilkens decided to sleep that night with the kids.
He stayed there until, using all his connections, he found four grenades to guard the people inside and then jumped into his car to find the governor, who could help him to save the orphans.
When he was in his office, the prime minister Jean Kambanda, was there and someone told Wilkens to ask him for help.
Wilkens, who was afraid of another militiamen attempt to kill people inside Gisimba, decided to move survivors to a safe haven Saint Michel Cathedral.
Again he used his connections and in few days, he organized two buses and a military escort, which was to help them to get through the most dangerous roadblocks. Wilkens negotiated with armed men on the way to the cathedral.
In the end, everyone on the buses was transported to Saint Michel alive and unharmed.
When Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) took over Kigali on July 4, 1994, it was not still the end of service for Wilkens. When he finally ended his mission, he went back to USA for a while.
In 1995 he, his wife Teresa and 3 children came back to Rwanda and for next 18 months Wilkens was working for the Adventist Church in reconstruction activities. Since 1996 he has been living in the USA.
He became an Adventist pastor and is working in Milo Adventist Academy in Days Creek, Oregon.
