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Rwanda landscape and memory Bannon -5571.JPG
"The first image that comes to mind of the church is when I was 8 years old. In this place I was praying and praising God. I prayed for peace for the country and  for my family and for knowledge. Knowledge of God and of science. My next memory is of the perpetrators and what happened in this church. In the beginning the genocidaires were not touching people here. Not by pity but so that as many as possible would gather here, People ran to the church and days later they were killed. In September of 1994, I came back to this place. There were stains of blood on the walls. The roof was damaged by grenades. The pews burnt near the opening and the mass graves were not yet opened. You can't cry, you can't say anything. It is a night. Everything is gone. Everything is dark." Jeanne Marie Vianney at St. Jean Catholic Church and Home Complex, Kibuye, Rwanda. Photo By Brendan Bannon March 1, 2014.