This cherished photograph captures one of the happiest days of our lives: The day my beloved family and I arrived at Kigali Airport, returning home from Pan Africa Christian University. Waiting to welcome us were members of our dear Quaker community, ministers, fellow Christians, and the loving faces of both my family and my wife Rosemary’s family , all gathered together in celebration, joy, and gratitude.

There were embraces, laughter, tears of joy, and prayers of thanksgiving that day. Our son Jonathan and our precious daughter Dianne were home. We were home. Surrounded by community, by faith and by love, it felt like the world was full of promise.

Just a few months later, in April 1994, that same world was shattered. Rwanda descended into a genocide that claimed hundreds of thousands of innocent lives, neighbors turning against neighbors, families torn apart forever. The smiling faces in this photograph: My community, my family, my home would never be the same again.

But by the grace of God, we survived. And it is because of this moment, this beautiful, innocent, joy-filled homecoming — that I have dedicated my entire life to building peace, so that no other family would ever have to lose what we almost lost forever.

This is where my story truly begins.