COEXIST

Coexist examines Rwanda's social experiment in government-mandated reconciliation following the 1994 genocide of more than half a million Tutsi and moderate Hutu. Released from prison in 2003, thousands of Hutus responsible for the slaughter faced little choice but to return to the villages where they once terrorized their neighbors. To weaken the impulse toward retaliation, the Rwandan government sponsored workshops, seminars and healing groups in the hopes of ending the cycle of violence and beginning the process of rehumanization. The compelling and often heartbreaking stories of victims, perpetrators and witnesses illuminate the challenges of this one-size-fits-all policy while exploring many difficult questions at the heart of the human experience.