Scientist and forgiveness researcher Dr. Pamela Wadende took part in a live SongWriter performance in Kigali with Freddy Mutanguha. Dr. Wadende works with communities in rural Kenya, Cameroon, Zambia, and Ethiopia, researching local forgiveness rituals and practices. Effective community justice practices, Dr. Wadende explains, help people engage with forgiveness and healing, and crucially, help to reintegrate perpetrators into the community. These local practices – distinct and apart from state-level justice, as in a prison sentence – are a key part of ending cycles of revenge and violence.

“When I listened to [Freddy’s] story, I’m looking at this person, who is on the journey of healing, who is actually healed,” Dr. Wadende says. “The scars inside their heart have healed. You can touch that scar – they remember vividly what happened, but it’s not as painful as it was when they started.”

During the live performance, artist Hope Azeda shared poems she wrote about talking to children about the genocide. The poems are written from the perspective of her mother, and explore the profound challenges of Rwandan parents. Hope is the founder of the Ubumuntu Arts Festival, which just celebrated its 10th anniversary in July. Since art, and especially music, was used to encourage killing during the genocide, Hope argues that it has an especially important role in reconciliation, healing, and flourishing.

“You had music being composed saying, ‘Go kill them cockroaches, go kill them snakes.’ Pickups were filled with militias chanting these slogans and singing,” Hope recalls. “So we’re here trying to regain this tool.”