Hampshire Chronicle reporter Claire Moriarty meets a Winchester woman who was so inspired by the tales of Rwandan women caught up in the African country's bloody civil wars, she wrote a fable based on their experiences

A chance meeting with a Rwandan bishop's wife has led to a Winchester woman writing a book about the troubled African country.

After the meeting Wanda Nash, from Hyde Street, decided to travel to the country two years ago.

The people won her over, she said, and she became entranced by the country still recovering from one of the most brutal genocides in recent history - when 800,000 people were slaughtered in around three months.

Wanda, a writer and stress counsellor, who is married to former rural dean of Winchester, Trevor, decided to write a book about her experiences - and it has just hit shops all over the country.

A Fable For Our Time is a collection of accounts of Rwandan women, moving from the time before the so-called 'Uncomprehenders' invaded the land, through the horror of the killings to the forgiveness and strength now prevalent in the country recovering from the shock of the mid 90s.

But it is written as a tale, a fable, so each individual story strikes the reader as one which could apply to many people, in many countries.

"The situation out there is so complex and there are so many different strands feeding into it, I felt there was no way you could write a history so I decided on this fable method," said Wanda.

"Every story in the book is verbatim as it was told to me. It came out of my guts as a fable because then it could be transferred to other nations."

Wanda said she was startled on her first visit to find the Rwandans were desperate to meet Europeans and talk about the horrific things they had witnessed.

"Out of the genocide the three things people wanted more than anything were new primary schools, medicine and to build a guest house for Europeans, because they wanted Europeans to hear their story.

"I was bowled over. I went out on my own to listen to the stories that the women wanted heard, simply as a listener and not a reporter.

"I told them: I have not brought a message, I have just come to listen to you. They were longing to tell their story, even after Europeans have treated them so badly."

She said the need to talk about the genocide was peculiar, but thought the demand to be heard and understood was a natural reaction to the extent of the disaster.

"The people there shared with each other but it's not like being heard by a new audience. The whole genocide thing was so little recorded over here, and so little understood," she said.

Her book was written partly to do justice to the women she met in Rwanda, she said, and partly for people in the West, to open their eyes to the ingenuity and resourcefulness of those who had witnessed awful crimes.

"Since the genocide they have lost a lot of the people who carried the old wisdom, but they are people of enormous joy. The sense of community is really hard to describe to an English person. Everybody belongs."

Wanda said a meeting with an old Rwandan woman stuck in her mind during the writing of the book.

"I said to her, "I love coming here, I learn so much." And she said, "Yes, we have a lot to teach you." The people are bringing something revitalised out of the horror."

She said she was optimistic for the future of the country, as long as well-meaning Westerners do not interfere too much.

"So often we give money with strings attached. One of the things I find most difficult is people who give money to make themselves feel good. They build schools in the way they want to develop the country.

"It isn't necessarily what Rwanda needs at all. I do think we have to watch that. We need to give them our confidence, and we need to encourage them with resources, but as far as possible we need to trust them to do it their way."

A Fable for Our Time, published by Christians Aware, is available in SPCK bookshops.