The movie Hotel Rwanda educated millions of people about the genocide in Rwanda, but Rwanda’s story shadows a simultaneous genocide in the neighboring country of Burundi. However, Burundi’s story is less about genocide and more about the power of forgiveness and reconciliation.

We sometimes go through life using a word hundreds of times without ever considering its potential for impact. Our understanding of the word “forgive” is often limited to the context of our own experiences; therefore, we may understand its definition but have little appreciation for its transforming power.

Today, the country of Burundi is being rebuilt on the foundation of the people’s ability to forgive. Hutu and Tutsi tribes spent the past 30 years slaughtering each other’s women, children, and fathers in a divisive civil war, which included periods of genocide. Although the killing stopped in 2008, the memories of bloodshed are forever etched into the minds of the two tribes. So how do they move forward if they cannot forget the past?

It is only through the forgiveness of one another that Burundi has been able to look to a new future. And so today a new Burundi is beginning to emerge… A desire by many to unify the country, transformed by forgiveness…and filled with hope.