THE National Volleyball team captain Christophe Mukunzi says the sport has played a vital role in helping him cope after the killing of his father and relatives during the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. The senseless killings claimed more than one million people.

Born on February 8, 1988 in Karongi District to Veronique Nibasenge and Mathias Gasarasi, Mukunzi is the second born in a family of four boys (Hanson Gasarasi Micomyiza, Christian Gasarasi Nkurunziza and Clement Gasarasi. The latter plays for national league side, Kigali Volleyball Club.

His father was killed during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, something that changed his life because his then expectant mother struggled to raise them without any meaningful source of income.

The 27-year-old Mukunzi does not precisely recollect events that led to the killing of his father and other relatives, but what he remembers is that the Interahamwe would taunt his father for being thin and tall and accused him of collaborating with Inkotanyi, as the Rwanda Patriotic Army (RPA) was then known.

Although Mukunzi and his siblings were forced to seek refuge in a church in Kibuye, it did not fend off the extremists who were determined to wipe out the whole family.

His grandmother would often bribe the ‘killers’ with cows and other gifts to spare their lives but the family never felt safe until the country was liberated in July 1994.

To forget the trauma of losing family members in ways that he couldn’t find any plausible answers, Mukunzi found solace in sports, especially volleyball which he started playing at a young age.

 "I was enthusiastic about sports from an early age. I played football and Basketball but Volleyball appealed to me more. It was a relatively new game and I enjoyed playing it because it helped me forget the misery I was in,” the 27-year -old says.

Playing career

Mukunzi started his playing career with Kigali Volleyball Club (KVC) in 2007 and four years later, he turned professional with Libyan side Tarsana Club. He did not finish the season because of the civil war, which followed the overthrow of the late Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi.

He returned to Rwanda and continued to play for KVC but at the end of 2011-2012 season, he got a fresh offer from Blida Club in Algeria, and after one season, he joined Qatari side Al Arabi Sports Club.

"In Qatar it was a very difficult experience for me and I didn’t stay there long,” he recalls.

Between 2013-2014, he went back to Algerian side El Fanar Ain-Azel Club. Now he is playing for Turkey (Payas Belediye Sport Club) in second division. His contract will end at the end of the season.

Moving Forward

 Mukunzi says that the memories of Genocide still haunt him and his surviving family member but understands that it is imperative to move on.

"It is not easy to cope with what happened that time. You lose someone you love in your family and try to forget, but it comes back especially during this period.

It is hard to forget the 1994 Genocide, and we must all unite and honor the victims. But we must move forward and build our country.”

"We must learn how to forgive those who wronged us if we are to move forward. We should all make sure it never happens again.”