She looks physically weak but still remembers with nostalgia her teenage years and can narrate with precision events in the past. Suzan Mukagatare is probably the eldest person in Musanze District and among the eldest in the country.

A mother of one, Mukagatare grew up during the reign of Yuhi Musanga in the 1920s and vividly remembers how King Musanga was deposed by the Belgians before fleeing to Kamembe onward to DR Congo.

She attributes Rwanda’s past woes to the colonialists and missionaries, who she says divided the country along ethnic lines.

She also blames the pre-Genocide leaders for setting the stage for the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in which over a million people perished.

"When we were young, Hutu would marry Tutsi, they would exchange cows and brides, but as time went by, the colonialists sowed seeds of divisions that saw people begin to hate and kill.

The hatred continued degenerating into the 1994 Genocide,” she says.

She adds that as they were growing up, Rwanda had a unique culture that was later distorted by western culture.

"Parents played a very significant role in the marriage of their children. But these days people meet on the streets and in night clubs and just a month down the road, they walk down the aisle,” she says

She said, then, Rwandans lived in harmony, shared and supported each other unlike now when individualism seems to have taken centre stage.

She particularly remembers how Rwandans suffered from Ruzagayura famine that ravaged the country in the early 1900s forcing people to survive on only milk.

"I had just gotten married when Ruzagayura famine struck. But before that, there was the Rumanura famine which was reportedly caused by German and Belgian wars in the country,” she says.

Life in exile

When Genocide started, Mukagatare fled to Zaire (current day DR Congo) where she lived until the Genocide was stopped.

She says she lived in harmony with other Rwandan refugees and they comforted and encouraged each other not to despair.

"I used to encourage fellow refugees to remain hopeful. Many of them had lost hope, thinking that exile was the end of the road,” she says.

She advises the current generation to be patriotic and work toward a common goal.

The catholic christian attributes her longevity to her faith in God who, she says, has enabled her overcome life’s trials and tribulations.

"I pray and fast a lot. I can’t end the day without praying. It is my bread,” she says.

"I thank God for seeing me through the years. I pray for peace, love and prosperity of my family and the country,” she adds

Mathias Kandanga, 84, who was raised by Mukagatare described her as a kind mother.

"Though she had one biological daughter, she managed to raise scores of people from other families,” Kandanga said.

" I got to know her (Mukagatare) when I was 14. She was a good neighbour to all of us, kind and supportive. She never segregated against any one and always gave us advice. She used to tell us that in order to live long, we needed to avoid drugs,” Kandanga adds.

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