BORN in 1945, Suzanne Ruboneka and her family were forced to flee Rwanda in the 1960s.

"One thing that I regret about my 45 year work experience is the fact that I spent 26 years in exile. But my greatest joy is the fact that I retired in my home country,” Ruboneka says. 

Ruboneka attended Nyundo Primary school in Gisenyi, the current Rubavu district, before joining Muramba for her secondary education. 

During the insurgencies of the 1960s, her family moved to Congo.  She was later able to go to Belgium for studies where she specialized in Social Affairs at Institute at Mons from1963-1968. 

"After, I joined my family back in Burundi where I worked as a secondary school teacher for six years before I was given a job to formulate the curriculum for primary and secondary education. I did this for 20 years before returning back home in 1994 after the Genocide against Tutsi,” Ruboneka narrates. 

On reaching Rwanda, Ruboneka was among the first people to work for the Ministry of Gender and Family promotion in 1994. 

"I was lucky to have been one of the first people to work with the late Aloysie Inyumba in 1994 when the Ministry was established after the Genocide. I learnt a lot. I gained a lot of experience and I have a great history with the Ministry because I was in charge of children affairs. From the Ministry, I went on to work with the Rwandan Association for the Promotion of Family Welfare (ARBEF) where I was in charge of education, information and communication and sensitising Rwandans in regards to social welfare. This was needed because after the Genocide, people decided to have many children so as to replace those that had died in the Genocide without realising that they needed to have children that they would be able to take care of,” Ruboneka reveals. 

Ruboneka joined Pro-Femmes Twese Hamwe in 1998, a place where she worked until she retired early this year. However, even while in exile, she was active in many women empowerment movements that promoted dignity and upheld the cultural values amongst Rwandan women and girls in exile. 

The 69-year-old Ruboneka was formerly the Director of the Peace Action Campaign for ProFemmes, an umbrella organisation that coordinates over 58 women NGOs in Rwanda.

Pro-Femmes Twese Hamwe is a national women’s organisation in Rwanda founded in 1992. It is recognised internationally for its contribution to rebuilding society after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

Including working for many organisations that promote women empowerment, Ruboneka was among the Rwandan women that organised a team of women that represented Rwanda at The Fourth World Conference on Women in September 1995. The Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion signed 12 Recommendations that were adopted at the conference on behalf of the Rwandan Government.  

"But we encountered several challenges which involved putting in place mechanisms that promote women empowerment in Rwanda as a signatory to the twelve recommendations.  At the time it was hard because many women were traumatised and there was a lot of mistrust because of the Genocide. Actually, what we do in the Ndi Umunyarwanda programme was what we used to promote unity amongst Rwandan women so as to deal with mistrust and view one another as Rwandans and not along ethnic lines. The first thing was to empower women to take part in decision making programmes,” Ruboneka recollects. 

The conference focused on the cross-cutting issues of equality, development and peace. It emphasised the crucial links between the advancement of women and the progress of society as a whole. It reaffirmed clearly that societal issues must be addressed from a gender perspective in order to ensure sustainable development.

Ruboneka revealed that the first programme women, put in place was a campaign for peace which had two orientations that involved having to deal with the impact of the Genocide without divisionism and also try to find out what led to the Genocide. This was done through Pro-Femmes Twese Hamwe

It’s through the above programme that Pro-Femmes Twese Hamwe received the 1996 UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize for the promotion of tolerance and non-violence "for their outstanding contributions in rehabilitating families and communities devastated by mass violence through their activities”.

The result was fostering a climate of peace based on tolerance and peace. Pro-Femmes Twese Hamwe also received the inaugural Gruber Prize for Women’s Rights in 2003.

In regard to whether there is need to review the current affirmative action policy, Ruboneka says: "In some countries its 50-50 and I don’t see any problem if the 30% affirmative action is put to 50% in Rwanda. At Pro-Femmes Twese Hamwe we carried out research and discovered that the reason why women were not in decision making positions was because they were not educated.  We encouraged adult classes as well as sensitisation. We would meet in villages to empower women as well as advocate greatly for girls education.”

She adds that misconceptions about women not being able to be great at what they do, have been dealt with after the rise of motivational women in what was initially considered a man’s world. 

"As a way of changing the mindset amongst the women, we embraced the slogan ‘Women can do it’ which inspires and motivates women to go into ventures that were initially considered men’s jobs. The slogan has been used during sensitisation meetings. Women are taught how to deal with people who tend to confront or stigmatise them through gender inequality,” Ruboneka reveals. 

She further states that although there are strategies in place to promote gender equality and women empowerment, changing society’s mindset is still greatly needed. 

"Family, as the smallest unit in society and as the most influential unit, needs to treat both girls and boys equally so as to promote gender equality.  For example my children especially the boys always complained about my insisting on equality. I raised my children to do the same tasks, just like my daughters would wash utensils, so did my sons. I believe it’s something they will consider in their families,” Ruboneka discloses. 

The mother of nine was married in 1971 but her husband passed on in 1973.  Of these nine, three are hers and the others are adopted.

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WHAT OTHERS SAY ABOUT HER

Jeanne d’Arc Gakuba, Vice president of Senate in change of Administration and Finance, worked with Ruboneka during her time as Director General of Pro-Femmes Twese Hamwe.

"I worked with Suzanne Ruboneka from 1997 to 1998 when she was in charge of the campaign Action for Peace. Besides working really hard and being patriotic, I will say she is a true advocate for peace in Rwanda and the East African Region,” Gakuba says. 

She adds: "She did her best to coordinate women associations in the East African region to work together to promote peace and women empowerment in the region. 

Gakuba also served as Vice Mayor in charge of women promotion and gender between 2001 and 2005 and was re-elected in 2006 and became Vice Mayor in charge of social development in Kigali city.

 "What I learnt from her personally was how she was able to work with different people, young, old, poor or rich with the highest level of tolerance,” Gakuba says. 

Immaculée Mukankubito, Second Deputy Director, Institute of Research and Dialogue for Peace (IRDP) worked with Ruboneka from 1998-2000 when she was the board member of Pro-Femmes Twese Hamwe. 

"She volunteered in many women associations such as Benimpuhwe , a Rwandan women association that was first established in Burundi while these women were in exile before they came back home after the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi. Her position in Benimpuhwe and being in charge of campaign Action for peace played a big role in the reconstruction period of the country, especially in areas of women empowerment and peace building,” Mukankubito says. 

She also says that Ruboneka was passionate in whatever she did and also depicted positive values.

"She is one of the few people one can say are the ‘heart’ of Pro-Femmes Twese Hamwe because she has worked there for so long and is now a link of the new and the old people that joined Pro-Femmes Twese Hamwe. Personally I learnt a lot from her but the one value that I can’t forget about her was her selflessness and loving nature. She always puts other people first and she does so happily,” Mukankubito reveals.