Memorial complications

Well, I don't know about your Memorial, but the ones here in Rwanda this year will probably be unique in the worldwide field. How is that?

It turns out that April 7, every year, is Genocide Memorial Day. This marks the anniversary of the day when the Rwandan genocide started in 1994. In Rwanda, this is a very serious holiday. Everything shuts down: government and local businesses, transport (except for a few hours in the early afternoon), sporting events, meetings, etc. The only things allowable are government-sponsored events.

In the U.S., you can preach on any holiday you want, including Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day. But in Rwanda, on Genocide Memorial Day as well as another serious holiday, Heroes' Day (February 1), we do not preach. I don't know what would happen if we did, but it would be a serious offense to people's sensibilities. So we stay home. It's even difficult to go anywhere due to the transportation shutdown.

The problem is that our Memorial, the Memorial of Christ's death, happens to fall on April 7 this year, the same as Genocide Memorial Day. I checked the date of every Memorial since 1995 and none of them fell on April 7. So this will be a first-time occurrence. On the evening of April 7, every year, the government arranges an event called "Walk to Remember." Thousands of people walk from the Genocide Memorial Museum, which is located in a neighborhood called Gisozi, to Amahoro Stadium, a stadium that seats about 20,000 and is located in a neighborhood called Remera. This stadium also happens to be right across the street from Bethel, and behind Bethel is the Remera Kingdom Hall, which is where 7 congregations meet (3 Kinyarwanda, English, French, Chinese, and Sign Language). The distance from Gisozi to Remera is about 10 km (6 mi) and the walk starts around 5:00 p.m. This means that the major roads are blocked during this time. Once everyone arrives at the stadium, a program of speeches, interviews, testimonials, and videos begins. The program lasts all night.

Then, the week following Genocide Memorial Day is called the Week of Mourning. Up until April 13, other events are planned which vary by location and time. During that period, we limit our preaching to certain times of the day.

So, of course all of us were wondering, could we hold our Memorial celebration that evening at the Kingdom Hall? Considering that it is so close to the stadium, with police and soldiers all over the place, would it be considered offensive?

In mid-March, members of our Rwanda Branch Committee met with governmental officials to discuss the matter. We explained to them that this is the most important religious event we have during the entire year, and that it must be held on that night, the anniversary of Jesus' death according to the Jewish calendar.

I don't know specifically what else was said during that meeting, but the result was that the officials said, okay, you can have your meeting, but only from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. No other time. Not before, not after. This applies to every congregation in the entire country. So they really did us a big favor.

Unfortunately, some congregations had already printed their Memorial invitations with some other time. We in the Chinese congregation hadn't printed ours, because we weren't sure what the direction would be.

Logistically, now, the problem will be to squeeze all 7 congregations into the double Kingdom Hall. We do have, in addition to our small parking lot on site, a fairly decent-sized parking lot behind the Kingdom Hall where the Sign Language RTO is located. It was decided that the 3 Kinyarwanda congregations would meet, all together, in the larger parking lot under a massive tent. This would mean 300 brothers and sisters, not including interested ones. English would take the upstairs Hall, French the downstairs one, and Sign Language the small parking lot under a tent. Chinese would be in the back room of the upper Hall.

Another thing we wondered about is whether interested people would come, (1) because our invitation campaign is severely limited by the coronavirus, and (2) because many would be afraid to come on the same day as Genocide Memorial Day. Or they might be confused between Genocide Memorial and our Memorial, both of which use the word "Memorial." Or they might try to come but find that the roads are impassable. So we don't have an idea of how many visitors we will have. But even with only publishers attending, you would still have more than 500 people at the same venue.

The direction therefore is, try to come to the Kingdom Hall that evening before 5:00 p.m., because otherwise you might find the route blocked. Don't bring your car. Be prepared to find alternate routes upon leaving. I can still park my car at my previous house, and then walk 6 minutes to the Hall. The roads of that neighborhood should not be affected by blockage.

If, by the time that April 7 comes, we are still under coronavirus restrictions prohibiting large gatherings, then we will have to meet in small groups either watching a streamed talk, or else, as I joke to some of the sisters, 'you can give a Memorial talk to a small group wearing a head covering.'

There is no question that 2020 will be a year to remember....