Synopsis
Arriving in the United States with nothing as a refugee, Charles Mwumvaneza has labored for years to have his incredible story heard. An unusual survivor of the infamous Rwandan genocide of 1994, Charles was marked for death and persecuted by individuals on both sides of the country's civil war. Though he opposed the artificial division of his country by colonialists into fictitious "tribes", Charles nevertheless possessed features from both groups. As members of Rwanda's Tutsi minority were exterminated by the thousands, Charles' hometown became a killing field as he and his wife Jeanne were hunted and chased for weeks on end by armed militias, their home and family destroyed. Charles was forced to rely on unlikely allies, torturous hiding places, and his newly-rediscovered faith in order to stay alive, desperate to outlast the genocide and reunite what remained of his family. After a shocking series of tragedies and miracles, he reaches safety at the U.N. controlled National Stadium. But at what cost? Charles discovers that for some, the end of the genocide doesn't mean the end of injustice, and that the narrative forced by the media and by politicians does not always reflect reality. I SAW THE DEVIL, I SAW GOD is a disturbing but true look into human atrocities and international politics. But it is also a story of hope and faith; of God's mercy and human kindness shining forth in a place overwhelmed by evil.
About the Author
Charles Mwumvaneza was a businessman living in Rwanda's capital city of Kigali. When the genocide of 1994 came to Rwanda, Charles and his wife Jeanne were forced out of their home and hunted for their lives. Narrowly surviving after weeks of hunger and danger, Charles lived to see the end of Rwanda's civil war, only to be falsely accused of working with the very murderers who had hunted him. Because of the colonialist division of Rwandans into artificial "tribes" named the Hutu and Tutsi, Charles, despite his hatred of the very concept, found himself rejected and persecuted on all sides, bearing characteristics of both groups. A victim of the partition of Rwanda into so-called ethnic groups, he was imprisoned, for years, without a trial. Charles was eventually released. After years of trials, he made his way to safety in the United States. Today, Charles lives in Southern California and is the founder of the nonprofit organization called Wakesho, an effort to improve the lives of youth in East Africa. "As detail after detail of Mr. Mwumvaneza's story was verified, I became all the more excited about working to shape Charles' experiences into book form. It isn't merely the story about one man, but a love letter to the unsung heroes of one of history's most shameful chapters. Any person, from any walk of life, would be powerfully impacted by the secrets revealed through Charles Mwumvaneza's witness, and his message to the current generation is not only for Africa, but for all of us.
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