All language subtitles for The Story Of Us - S01E02 - The Fight For Peace

-As a kid,
I loved war movies.

Especially anything
happen to do with airplanes.

So as soon as I graduated
from High School, I
enlisted in the Air Force.

I was fascinated by
the technology of war.

Jet engines, radar.

But I never saw
action during my service.

I never had to confront
making the ultimate
sacrifice for my country.

More than a million soldiers
have laid down their lives
in the name of this country.

They did it because, they
believed the wars they fought
were necessary, and just.

Every country is
proud of its veterans.

And there are cemeteries
all around the world
just like this one.

They are reminders of the
terrible human cost of war.

Can we put an end
to this sacrifice?

Is war inevitable?

Or can we ever hope
for a lasting peace?

Is technology making war
more likely, and more deadly?

-I killed three people.

Two of them were
obliterated into pieces.

-If one nuclear weapon is
used, it would be mutually
assured destruction.

MORGAN: Is peace simply
the absence of war?

So this is the peace wall.

It's put up for protection?

-Yes because
violence does flare up.

MORGAN: And can we ever
move beyond our urge to fight?

-Even after genocide, revenge
doesn't allow you to move on.

*

MORGAN: This is my journey.

To discover the
ties that bind us.

And the common
humanity inside us.

This is The Story Of Us.

*

I'm on my way to a remote
region of southern Ethiopia

to meet two tribes
that have been warring

with one another
for generations.

The Dassanech
and the Nyangatom.

The Dassanech and
Nyangatom societies
center around cattle.

But in this
arid environment good
grazing land is scarce.

And it's often the
flash point for conflict.

John Lomala, a member of
the Dassanech, has invited
me to his village to witness

a peace ceremony,
an effort by the tribal
elders, to end the fighting.

So John,
tell me, where am I?

-You are in a Dassanech
village called Damech.

-Damech?

-Damech is a
village of Dassanech.

And Dassanech is
people of the Delta.

-People of the Delta?

I mean I live in a Delta
also in Mississippi so, we
have that much in common.

-In this village when I was
born, my family was telling
me that my enemy is Nyangatom.

They kill my uncle,
they kill my aunt.

-Wait a minute,
you're telling me that
these small villages,

you fight and
kill each other?

-Yes.

We have been fighting,
over the pasture yeah, over
the pasture water, grass.

Here you need to
have cows to have a wife.

And if you don't have
anything you should go

and steal some
animals and get a wife.

-And that starts the fight?
-Exactly.

-So, about how many
people have been killed
in the last, two years?

-I don't know the exact
number but, maybe 20.

-That's a lot, that's a lot
of people in a small village.

-He is a Dassanech warrior.
-Are you?

-Yeah, you can see
he cut his chest.

This is a symbol
of a warrior.

This signifies that
he has killed an enemy.

-How many men do you kill?

(speaking in native language).

-He said two.
-Two?
-Yes.

-Was it a fight?

(speaking in native language).

-He say with AK47, not
his spear, he use his AK47.

-How does he
feel about that?

-He's happy because,
he's a warrior you know,
everybody afraid of him.

MORGAN: John explains to me
that there is tension between
the young men who want to

prove themselves and
get married, and the elders,
who want to end the killing.

-People are losing their
lives, people are dying.

-Okay.
-So the elders decided
to have peace ceremony.

-So now the elders have
said that's enough, we gotta
get together and stop this.

-And make peace and
bring people together.
-So how does it work?

What is the first thing?

-So, the first thing
is we give a message
to the young warriors.

Message is, tell the
Nyangatom we want them
to come to our village,

we offer peace ceremony.

If the time comes, the
Nyangatom will come.

-Is that them?
-Yeah that's them.

-Alright now, what
are they doing?

-Now the Dassanech elders,
they are with a calabash
full of clean water.

They're there to bless
them, welcome, welcome,
welcome to our village.

Welcome to our village.

-Welcome, not blessing.
-And they're washing the sins.

MORGAN: To show their
commitment to peace, the
Dassanech sacrifice a cow,

a valuable asset at the
root of their conflict.

Both tribes will feast
on the meat later but first,

they must perform a
ritual with the cow's innards.

That's actually
the stomach contents.

Like, first
stomach of a cow.

The grassy stomach
contents represent the
contested grazing land.

Smearing it on each other
was a step towards being able
to share this contested land.

Now, the peace
talks can begin.

(speaking in native language).

-He's saying
that the last peace
was spoiled by this tribe

because of their stealing.

So, from now on we want to
stop these kind of activities.

May God support us.

(speaking in native language).

-So he's cursing,
also the thieves.

-And the people who
are answering are saying
something like, "amen."

-Amen, exactly.

MORGAN: The elders persuade
the young warriors that the
cycle of cattle raiding

and killing has
hurt both tribes.

But I want to ask the
elders how confident they
are in this new peace.

-We have two people
from different tribes, from
Dassanech tribe is this elder.

This elder
is from Nyangatom.

-Okay, when
was the last time you
had a peace ceremony?

(speaking in native language).

-Seven years ago.
-Seven years ago?

Do you expect it
to last a long time?

(speaking in native language).

-He is saying that when
we are one, when we come
together and we pray God,

of course he
will give us peace.

-Of course.

(speaking in native language).

And I hope this peace
lasts a long time, a long time.

Thank you.

As the ceremony
ends, I notice a Nyangatom
and a Dassanech elder leaving

the village together.

Where are
those two men going?

-They are going
to bury a spear.

They used to use the
spear to kill each others,

so we are brothers
then why cannot we bury what
we used to kill each others.

They are saying we are
enough, enough is enough
so no more conflict,

no more war.

-Since the dawn of society,
people have waged war,

primarily over
limited resources.

Where people live off the
land and there is not enough
good land to go around,

war becomes an inevitable
part of the cycle of life.

The best you can do is
what the Dassanech and the
Nyangatom are trying to do.

Find a balance
between war and peace.

Around the world, we
continue to fight over land,
and other natural resources,

as we have done for millennia.

And, like the Ethiopian elders
we long for peace, because
of the horrors of battle.

But technology is causing
a fundamental shift in the
balance of war and peace.

Drone warfare means
that soldiers don't have
to be on the battlefield

to engage in the fight.

Over the past few
decades, the United States
has targeted more than

4,000 suspected
terrorists in drone strikes.

Those strikes have
killed more than 6,600 people.

But opponents see
drones as a threat to peace.

They believe drones
lower the barrier to war
and kill many more innocent

civilians than
officially reported.

I'm meeting former
US Air Force drone
operator Brandon Bryant.

He is a fierce critic of
the American Drone Program.

-I have concerns about how
the drone community operates.

I think that there should be
independent investigations
and transparencies about the

responsible use of any
weapon systems capable of
killing another human being.

-I was a little kid
during World War II.

And following the
end of the war of course,

glory, bravery
and patriotism,

it's instilled in
me and, where do I go?

Air Force, how
do you feel going in?

-So when I joined the
military I really did
it, to serve my country.

But when I got to the
drone base I didn't
know what I was doing,

they didn't tell me
anything until I got there.

They put me in a small
theater with about 25 other
individuals and then they

played a montage
video of drone strikes.

And Sergeant after it's
done and he's standing
at parade rest,

he's like "your
job is to kill people
and break things,"

and I was
just like "holy (bleep)."

What am I doing?

-What is it like
flying a drone?

-I was an MQ-1 Bravo
Predator Sensor operator.

So I control the
camera and the missiles.

Like that's my job.

The pilot keeps the aircraft
in the air and basically
we support one another.

If you look out
the window actually,

if you look down there
that's kind of the same...

paradigm view that we have.

If there's a target to be
attacked, they're like okay
this is what's going on.

You're gonna watch a
person outside this guy's house.

I mean you're just waiting
for an opportunity for them
to get into a location,

you're gonna shoot em.

-Do you know how many kills?

-13 directly, my first shot
it was at winter in the
mountains of Afghanistan.

I killed three people...

two of them were obliterated
into pieces and one of them,
watched him bleed out and then

watched an infrared become
the same color as the
ground that he died on.

-Is there remorse or there
was like, consternation?

-I'm sitting there like, I
just watched a man bleed out.

That felt horrible,
I wanted to cry, I
felt you know, you feel the

"this is what
I just did", the
adrenaline rush.

I mean, it was all sorts
of weird, weird feelings.

MORGAN: On one mission,

Brandon was given the
orders to strike a house.

Right after firing
the missile, he saw what he
believed to be a small child

walking into the structure.

But it was too late to abort.

MORGAN: Technology
has shifted the delicate
balance between war and peace

many times in human history.

But drones might be the
biggest disruptors yet, making
war possible at merely the

push of a button and posing
new moral dilemmas for
soldiers thousands of miles

from the battlefield.

Air Force Drone operator
Brandon Bryant is sure he
killed an innocent child who

walked into the strike
zone he had just targeted.

His superiors
insisted he killed a dog.

-You get into that
position where you just
don't feel like you have

any power to
change anything.

I felt the helplessness
and that is another sense
of post-traumatic stress.

I don't know how I
survived it, mentally or
spiritually it was hard.

-Survivor's guilt.
-Hmm, hmm.

MORGAN: When Brandon left
the Service after six years,
he received a certificate.

It stated that over
2,300 people had been killed
due to intelligence gathered

on his drone missions.

How did you feel
when you saw that number?

-Once I had that sheet, I
recognized that the
background noise in my dreams

was a legion of ghosts.

I was haunted by every tally
mark on that piece of paper.

It really hit home with
how much we can know and
how little we actually

know of who
these people are.

Like they're just numbers.

They're just a
tick on a database.

MORGAN: Successive
US administrations have
maintained that drone missions

are effective and
reduce civilian deaths.

-These strikes were legal.

They are ethical
and they are wise.

MORGAN: But Brandon thinks
America's increasing
dependence on drones,

is fundamentally changing
our attitude to war.

-You know I've heard all
the justifications for
doing what I've done.

Maybe if it was used
ethically or more responsibly,
I could be okay with it.

But we were just
told our job is to kill
people and break things,

that's what
we're going to do.

And that doesn't
sit well with me.

-You think this is
a worse way to fight a war
than conventional warfare?

-I think that we
need to reassess how we're
utilizing this technology.

Cause it's so easily abused.

You no longer need to train
someone to go into combat,
you just need to train someone

to control a joystick
and press the button, and
take another person's life.

MORGAN: Brandon thinks
he's seen the future of war.

And he doesn't
like where it's headed.

He dutifully completed
thousands of hours of drone
missions for the Air Force.

But now,
he has a new mission.

He believes that by
revealing the inner workings
of the drone program,

we can all come to understand
the consequences of using
such hi tech killing machines.

With our ever growing
population, and our ever
developing technology,

humanities long
tradition of fighting over
limited resources seems

destined only to intensify.

But I heard about an ancient
ritual in South America
that may offer a solution.

Anthropologist
Kate Centellas is traveling
to the town of Macha,

in the highlands
of Bolivia to witness a
celebration called Tinku.

She's meeting
Wilber Garnica Fajardo,
a member of the Quechua,

an indigenous Bolivian group.

-Welcome to Macha.

-I'm really glad
to be in Macha because
I've never seen Tinku

and I've been studying
Bolivia for a long time.

Can you tell me a
little bit about what's
going on here today?

-We are waiting
for the big fiesta.

They will celebrate
the end of the harvest.

-And that's called Tinku?

Is that right?

-Tinku is part of this
big party we have,
every fourth of May.

MORGAN: Approximately 3,000
people from 60 highland
and lowland communities

surrounding Macha travel
to the town square to
take part in the festival.

It's a harvest celebration,
and an act of thanksgiving to
the mother goddess Pachamama.

-For us, for the
Andean people, Pachamama
is Mother Earth.

MORGAN: The day begins
with music, ritualistic
marching, dances,

and plenty of chichi,

a libation made
from fermented corn.

-It's like the end
of the year for us, with
the end of the harvest

and we have a big explosion.

MORGAN: The energy
and excitement builds
until, right on cue...

fighting breaks out.

MORGAN: Every year,
on the fourth of May, a

town square in the Bolivian
highlands becomes a battlefield.

Tinku is a ritual war in
honor of the local Quechua
people's mother goddess.

-The Tinku has started,
so there are fights one to one.

If in this day you are
bleeding, means you are giving
to the Gods to Pachamama.

-Are they really
angry with each other?

-No, not angry.

They're 100%
with a high emotion.

-So how do they
know who to fight?

-Always between a guy
from the lowlands, against
a guy from the highlands.

MORGAN: Tinku is a blood
offering to Pachamama.

But it also has a
more practical function.

It's a release of aggression
between rival groups that
might otherwise get into

deadly disputes over land.

-And so how do they
know when it's done,
when a Tinku is done?

-They get exhausted,
or someone is bleeding.

In that case they stop.

MORGAN: As the day and
the drinking go on, larger
groups start to brawl.

Eventually, the police
step in, firing tear
gas to stop the Tinku

from getting out of control.

-So, there was a lot of
aggression out there and it,
it looked really chaotic and

there was a lot of violence.

Do you think that that helps
the communities maintain
peace between one another,

over the year?

-Yes of course.

If they don't have the
Tinku, they go out, without
liberating their energy.

So today, people return
back to home satisfied.

-And that helps prevent
these other uncontrolled acts
of violence in some ways?

-Yeah, yeah,
yeah, it helps yes.

-Tinku may sound brutal.

Violence for violence sake.

But it gives the Quechua a
way to work with human nature.

It provides an outlet
for the aggressions that
build up inside all of us.

I think it's pretty ingenious.

Instead of letting
tensions boil over into
all-out war, once a year,

they get it out
of their system.

Could the Quechua
model for keeping the
peace work elsewhere?

Sadly, the gulf between
warring factions in many parts
of the world seems too great.

Their only apparent
pathway to peace is segregation.

I'm on my way to
Belfast, to Northern Ireland.

For hundreds of years
Ireland has been ground zero
in a struggle of loyalties to

religion and nation.

On the one side,
Catholics, who want to join
the Republic of Ireland.

On the other, Protestants,
loyal to the United Kingdom.

Between 1968 and 1998,
in a period known as
"The Troubles,"

more than
3,000 people were killed.

To stem the terrible violence
of the troubles, over 100
walls like this were put up

across Northern Ireland,
segregating Catholic and
Protestant neighborhoods.

When the war ended in
1998 the walls remained.

Warring sides divided
brought an end to war but,
is that the same as peace?

I'm meeting a man who has
lived his whole life in the
shadow of one of these walls.

His name is Daniel Walsh.

-Hi Morgan nice to meet ya.
-Hi, Daniel, how are you man?

-Yeah, all good, yeah.
-That's great.

So this is the peace wall?

-This is what's known as
the interface, between
the two communities.

-Interface between the
Protestants and the Catholics?

-And the Catholics, yes.

-And which side of
the wall are we on now?

-We're on the national
side, the Catholic side.

-The Catholic side,
the National side.

So, you've never
not known this wall?

-It's all I've known.

-It is put up for protection?
-Yes.

-To protect you or from
them, or them from you?

-You could say from both.

It's not all one sided.

-But is there much
violence that goes on now?

-There were attacks
ranging from golf
balls to glass bottles

paint bombs around here.

There was one time
where my one year old son,

brought him out to the
door for some fresh air and

we were standing here
and I had him in me arms.

And there was a guy
across the street who
is not my biggest fan.

-Across the street in
one of those windows or?

-Yeah, he had a clear
view of myself and my son.

A few minutes later he
had a large piece of masonry,

had come over and just
bounced off my roof there.

And it landed not too
far away from me with the
intent of doing some damage

to myself or my son.

And luckily it landed
you know, away from us.

MORGAN: Daniel got tired
of the simmering conflict.

So he enrolled
in a program that put
together people living

on opposite
sides of the walls.

He has struck a friendship
with a Protestant woman,

something that is not
only rare, but even dangerous
in Northern Ireland.

I don't know your name.

I'm not gonna
show your face.

And I'm
disguising your voice.

-Yep.
-Why is that?

-Some people don't like
the idea of Protestant and
Catholic being together.

And they've seen that
I got too friendly with
the Catholic people.

They came to my house
and threatened me, I was
homeless for six months,

I had to move.

-This isn't a couple
of neighbors coming
round and saying we're

not happy with this.

This is sinister people
with violence in their mind.

-Do you think you could have
been seriously harmed?
-Yes.

-Just by having
a Catholic friend?
-Yes.

-Tell me about who
you are yourself?

As much as you can?

-I'm a Protestant.

I was 11 year old when
the trouble started.

I've seen a few people being
shot and another person,
his head was blown off.

It was very, very hard
growing up in those days.

-What did you think
about Catholics?

-When I was young I
never liked them because,
I never really knew them.

-What about you Daniel?

Did you grow up with an
idea about Protestants?

-They were, not so much
the enemy but, they certainly
weren't your friend.

-The Good Friday Accord
signed in 1998 to all
intents and purposes,

that would end the
violence between Catholics
and Protestants in Ireland.

But it didn't.

-Why do you
think it didn't?

-That should have been it.

But you still have elements
who don't want to be seen as
giving in to the other side.

-There was families that
their loved ones was murdered
through the troubles and it's

harder for them to forgive.

-The Good Friday Agreement
was a nice idea um, on paper.

But totally left behind were
the people in the communities
who were suffering

and are still suffering.

There was no effort at all to
bring those people together.

-What do you hope for Ireland?

-Well it's education and
having both communities being,

and working together
from the very outset of life.

It's much, much harder
as adults to bring people
together when they're

brainwashed to
think a certain way.

-Catholic and
Protestant are not enemies.

We're human.

-Well I can see that
that would be a big wish,
from both of your sides.

I want to thank you
both very, very much.

Particularly you.

-Thank you.
-I hope we're not
blowing your cover.

Robert Frost wrote "good
fences make good neighbors."

But I don't think he was
imagining a 30 foot barricade.

Daniel's house was attacked.

His Protestant
friend fled her home.

But, as long as
there are people like them,
people who dare to cross the

divide I believe,
there is hope for peace.

I think their simple
act of friendship,
and others like it,

will eventually
tear down this wall.

Northern Ireland isn't alone
in equating the separation
of warring sides with peace.

This uneasy form of
peace exists even where
there are no walls.

For decades, we've
maintained global peace
by the threat of a war

that would destroy us all.

But can this
nuclear peace last?

MORGAN: I went to a school
like this back in the 50s.

The dawn of the Cold War.

Back then, children all
over the country were taught
"duck and cover" drills.

As if hiding under
your desk would protect
you from a nuclear attack.

Well thankfully,
the bombs never came.

Many did say that that's
because, nuclear weapons were
entirely too destructive.

The threat of
total annihilation
kept global peace.

And it worked
during the Cold War.

But how long will
it keep working?

To answer that question,
I'm traveling to London to
meet Nobel Peace Prize winner,

Doctor Mohammed ElBaradei.

As the Director
of the International
Atomic Energy Agency,

he was responsible for UN
nuclear weapons inspections.

This included determining
whether Iraq had
nuclear weapons in 2003.

-We have to date found no
evidence that Iraq has revived
its nuclear weapon program

since the elimination of
the program in the 1990s.

MORGAN: We decided
to meet for our discussion
of global brinkmanship at

Bellerby and Company,
a maker of hand crafted globes.

Could you
just show me, how many
countries we know,

have nuclear weapons?

-We have nine for sure.
-Yeah.

-We have the United States.
-Hmm, hmm.

-Then, Russia.

Together they have 90%
of the nuclear weapons.

90%.

-These two...

-And then,
United Kingdom, France.

And then we go to China.

India, Pakistan, then Israel.

-Israel.
-North Korea.

So these are the nine
we know for sure they
have nuclear weapons.

We have two or three we have
discovered who were cheating,
you know like Iraq and Libya.

You know unfortunately,
they try to do
what the big boys do.

Which is develop
this horrible weapons.

-Get a big stick.
-Absolutely.

-Now there are some
politicians, generals,

who will say that we are
ultimately safer in the world
because of nuclear weapons.

Nobody dares use them.

-The risk that they will
be used through miscalculation,
through human error.

Through unauthorized use.

Through extremists
getting their hand
on a nuclear weapon,

is higher by the day.

-What are the odds of us
surviving as we are with
the nuclear weapons?

-Bill Perry,
Secretary of Defense of
the US said to this day,

that we manage to avoid
nuclear catastrophe by

good luck rather
than good management.

We might be able to make it
five, ten, 20 years, you know.

-But eventually...

-But eventually, chickens
are coming home to roost.

-Mohamed spent his career
trying to stave off one nuclear
escalation after another.

But he retains a
glimmer of hope for peace.

Ever since the beginning of
mankind, we've been at war.

Biblically
there's Cain and Abel.

Do you think we'll
ever be able to overcome
that part of our

genetic structure
that makes us, war like?

-I have to
believe that we can.

You know I have to
believe in the goodness
of human spirit you know.

-The interconnectivity
that we have
today due to technology,

isn't that going to
be of some use to us?

-I think so.

We have to
talk to each other.

We have to
educate each other.

We have to
understand each other.

If I look at young
people now, you know,
I have hope you know.

They are color blind,
religious blind, ethnic blind,
that they would treat each

other as part of
the same human family.

That if somebody dies in
Darfur, I will react the same
way if somebody dies in LA.

The same day we will
end nuclear weapons.

-I'm in agreement,
thank you so much.

-Thanks, thanks a lot.

-I find Dr. ElBaradei's
perspective on nuclear
conflict very sobering.

We are only here
because of good luck,
not good management.

But, Mohammed has hope,
that our children and
their children will bring

about fundamental change.

That they will create a world,
not of fear and oppression.

But of hope and dignity.

A world where borders
don't exist, I share that hope.

But how do we make this
monumental transition
from war to peace?

If there's one place
on earth that might
serve as a test case,

it's Rwanda.

Just over two
decades ago, a horrifying
genocide took place here.

On April 6th, 1994,
Rwandan President
Juvenal Habyarimana

was killed when
his plane was shot down.

This event added fuel to
the long simmering tension
between the country's

two major ethnic groups,
the Hutus and the Tutsis.

The majority
of Hutus blamed the
death of the Hutu president

on the minority Tutsis.

The ensuing conflict
lasted only 100 days, but
it claimed a million lives,

one tenth of the population.

The genocide ended when
Tutsi General Paul Kagame's

rebel forces seized
the capital Kigali.

Six years later,
Kagame was elected President,
an office he still holds.

And today,
more than two decades
on from the genocide,

there has been
no return to violence.

I want to understand why?

And the President
agreed to talk to me.

During the genocide,
Hutus systematically
attacked the Tutsis.

You're seeing a
lot of the murders and
atrocities that had

been committed
against the Tutsis.

Didn't make you wanna
do just a little revenge?

-It caused a lot of
anger against those who
are doing it, absolutely.

I wouldn't call
it revenge as such but, it
was driving me to

say how fast can we
rein these people in?

-Do you think that justice
and revenge are different?
-They're different.

They are different
and in fact revenge
may be justified,

but it is not justice.

Justice is something else.

Justice allows the
aggrieved parties to get along.

While revenge doesn't
allow you to move on.

It only allows and
cause more revenge to happen.

And then you are
in a vicious circle.

-Now you're making this
argument in spite of
your own family losses?

-Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

Many, many family
members lost, absolutely.

MORGAN: When Kagame became
President in 2000 he began
a nationwide program of

reconciliation to try to
heal the wounds of genocide.

Well, you go right to
work on reconciliation.

-Right.
-That had not
happened before you?

-We knew it would go nowhere
unless we reversed the
politics of hatred and...

-Separation.
-Separation and
division and so on.

So let's
try something else.

So let's agree
that, irrespective of our
differences, we can get along,

we can work together.

-Alright you teach the
population how to forgive,
overcome the idea of revenge.

How do you go
about doing that?

-We must do something that
allows people to build and
hopeful for the future.

We went to the
homes of our citizens.

And reconciliation was
kind of a conversation,
it was a discussion.

Look, we have a lot of
places to point fingers,
but that doesn't help.

What helps is confronting
this situation as we should.

MORGAN: President Kagame's
bold efforts to bring
peace to Rwanda have included

limiting freedom of speech
and the press and suppressing
political opponents.

But I'm told his
reconciliation program
has touched the lives

of millions of Rwandans.

I want to
meet some of them.

I was connected with
Mariya Izagiriza and
Filbert Ntezirizaza,

who were introduced
several years ago by
Bishop Deo Gashagaza.

I'm meeting them at the
Kigali Genocide Memorial.

Tutsi.

Hutu.

-Yes.

-Filbert, Mariya,
see I know all that.

So, I would like
you Mariya to tell me as
much as you can remember,

about what happened
to you in 1994?

(speaking in native language).

MORGAN: As they fled
from the killers Mariya's
family got separated.

Her husband and
brother-in-law ran off
with two of their sons.

Mariya took her infant
daughter, young son
and her step daughter.

-You ran and hid?

You hid in the
bushes, is that right?

-Yes.

MORGAN: Mariya spent five
days in the bush, with the
children before they escaped.

They walked for a week
until they made it to safety,
in neighboring Burundi.

Did you ever see your
husband and family again?

(speaking in native language).

Filbert, what do you know
about her husband children?

(speaking in native language).

-The genocide in Rwanda
in 1994 shocked the world.

But the outbursts
of murder was the result of
decades of divisive politics

in the country.

People had been
indoctrinated to believe
that Hutus and Tutsis,

were natural enemies.

Filbert, a Hutu was involved
with a group that killed
Mariya's husband and sons,

who were Tutsis.

-Filbert killed her relatives?
-Yes.

(speaking in native language).

MORGAN: Filbert joined
a local Hutu militia.

Along with nine other
men, he set up an ambush near
Mariya's village to catch Tutsis

fleeing from the violence.

They captured Mariya's
husband, brother-in-law,
and the two boys.

They took them to
a quarry, and threw
them to their deaths.

-How does it happen that
the two of you are together?

-Filbert came to you,
to ask forgiveness.

Is that so?

(speaking in native language).

-So it sounds like
we're talking about
forgiveness here.

But, was it like that?

-Two years?
-Yes.

-Here we are today,
what do we have?

(speaking in native language).

-She smiles.

(speaking in native language).

-Same with you?

-On the one hand, awful.

And on the other hand
it is a wonderful story.

It gives hope to all mankind.

(singing in native language)

Mariya and Filbert
now live as neighbors
in a specially created

reconciliation village.

It's a place designed to forge
real bonds between victims and
perpetrators of the genocide.

Filbert helps Mariya with
her farm, and they spend
time together, as friends.

Walking around the genocide
memorial makes me realize
the enormous human toll

of this conflict.

And that there are hundreds
of thousands of stories
like Mariya, and Filbert's.

What happened
in Rwanda is one of
humanity's great tragedies.

It is also a
source of great hope.

A country can
recover from civil war.

People can reconcile,
even after genocide.

Forgiveness, that takes
great sacrifice and courage.

From the President.

From Mariya and Filbert,
and the millions of others,
who put aside revenge,

to embrace peace.

War has been around
ever since we've had
to share resources like,

land, food, water.

I don't think
the end of war is imminent.

But what I've learned
from the remarkable
people that I have met,

is that we have to get
better at making peace.

When the bloodshed ends,
and the dust settles
over shattered homes,

we must do everything we
can to resist taking revenge,

and instead search
for our own humanity.

After all,
we are the species that
thrives on cooperation.

It's what we've
always done best.

Captioned by Cotter
Captioning Services.