Haunted by past, Rwandans look ahead

They came from across the street, and around the country, with a shared purpose: to never forget the Rwandan genocide.

During yesterday's somber, candle-lit memorial at St. Peter's Church in Cambridge, dozens of Bostonians joined Rwandan Ambassador Zac Nsenga and other Rwandans in remembering the African country's war-ravaged past and embracing its future.

''Let us remember our loved ones who met their death in the genocide," the Rev. Romain Rurangirwa told the crowd, which included a 14-year-old Rwandan girl in Boston for cancer treatments and a Rwandan lawyer now studying at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.

''And let us never forget what caused them to die, the evil spirit that engulfed our country," he continued.

It was 12 years ago, in April 1994, that long-simmering ethnic tensions between the Hutus and the Tutsis exploded, after Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana, a Hutu, was killed when his plane was shot down.

Almost immediately, Rwanda erupted in political violence. First, Hutu extremists targeted prominent opposition figures, including Tutsi leaders and moderate Hutu politicians. Then the killings spread as Hutu militias, armed with machetes, clubs, guns, and grenades, began indiscriminately killing Tutsi civilians.

Hutu commentators on state-owned radio added to the hysteria by calling for more violence.

And despite pleas for help, the international community never stepped in. By June, an estimated 800,000 people -- about one-tenth of Rwanda's population -- had been killed. Most of the dead were Tutsis -- and most of those who perpetrated the violence were Hutus.

Today, Rwandans don't just remember. They also look ahead.

Last year in Cambridge, Rwandans who had settled in the Boston area held their own memorial service. This year, they were joined by a growing number of Bostonians who want to be part of the country's healing.

''We have many friends in Boston," said Nsenga, who spent time in Boston this past week with President Paul Kgame of Rwanda. The pair met with investors and academics to discuss possible future investments and projects.

''We've been encouraging investors and meeting with our academic supporters," Nsenga said. As Rwanda tries to shed its agrarian past, he said, ''there's a great potential for investment."

Most agree that much of the Boston-Rwanda link was forged when Sr. Ann Fox, a nun based in South Boston, held a dinner several years ago for the international rights group, Women Waging Peace. At the dinner, she recalled, women talked about the role that Rwandan women have played in healing the country.

Fox was inspired to open a girls' school in Rwanda, and she launched a fund-raising effort. With help from friends, Fox opened the school in a rural part of the country a few months ago.

Fox also helped introduce Rwandan coffee, a major export, to the Boston area. She spoke to South Boston-based entrepreneur, Stephen Coffey, about Rwanda, and soon, he established Thousand Hills Coffee Co., which exports the country's rich, dark beans. Proceeds from the coffee sales are sent back to Rwanda to support the girls' school.

Fox also encouraged St. Peter's pastor Rev. Kevin J. O'Leary to travel to Rwanda. He went last year, and his parish has now launched a Rwandan lecture series.

Parishioner Sean Delaney said that what he's learned at the lecture series has been staggering.

''It's incredible to imagine what happened there, because the Rwandan people I've met are brilliant and decent people, and it is hard to connect these people with the tragedy that happened there," he said.

For others, the 1994 genocide is never far from home.

David Ugirash is a Burlington business owner who lived in Rwanda during the genocide. He's been in the United States in 1997. He came to yesterday's memorial service so he wouldn't forget how far he has come.

''It hurts," he said. ''I don't love to bring back the memories, but it is important to be here."

Christine McConville's e-mail is cmcconville@globe.com.