Last weekend, the association of student survivors of the Genocide against the Tutsi (AERG) celebrated 25 years of its creation. The organisation was founded to build solidarity among youths who had survived the 1994 Genocide and has since birthed GAERG, which all AERG members join upon graduating from university.

The two bodies currently count 45,000 members, majority of whom are graduates.

In an exclusive interview with The New Times’ Alice Kagina, one of the co-founders of AERG, Jean Pierre Nkuranga, reflected on the inspiration to start the body, challenges they encountered and what the future holds for the future

Excerpts

Briefly tell us what inspired you and your colleagues to start AERG back in 1996?

We started AERG because of the shared ordeal the country had faced, the Genocide against Tutsi in 1994.

It is an association that came up to help students who survived the Genocide have the courage to study, develop themselves and regain hope to live. Among the things that Genocide destroyed, honestly there was an issue of hope.

I was 20 years pursuing my secondary education when the Genocide broke out and when we returned to school, we discovered many issues among our colleagues, some had fresh and gaping wounds but they still came to school. Others would be studying and suddenly experience flashbacks of Genocide scenes.

So, when I reached the National University of Rwanda, those who were ahead of us had faced the same issues. We started to support each other, that’s where the initiative of AERG was born.

A day came when we first met in a university hall, we were amazed at the number of people that showed up, because it was an invite by word of mouth, so we thought it was only a few of those we knew who would turn up. We were shocked when around 300 survivors turned up.

Seeing over 300 survivors who were at university gave us hope. We were encouraged and committed to supporting each other. We visited each other in hostels and shared personal stories about what we witnessed and how we survived during the Genocide. This became a form of therapy for us.

From hearing other people’s stories, you would feel as if what you went through is less horrifying. Despite the horrendous experience, some found courage to smile and study hard, which challenged us to move on and form a community.

On October 9, 1996, we held the first general assembly and signed articles of association and on October 20, 1996, we officially launched AERG in Huye campus, which was the only university in Rwanda then.

What was the idea behind the creation of AERG families?

Some students had nowhere to go during holidays because they were the only survivors in their entire families. So we decided to put up a family structure with father and mother figures. At first, it did not yield results but within a short period they were very active.

In high schools, these families came in handy because it permitted sharing school materials between themselves, if a student was coming from a relatively rich family, they would ask for additional materials for others who were from vulnerable families or had no family left.

So, bringing back hope and having students join these families gave us strength to go on. We would have lost many people had it not been for AERG. Of course, some didn’t get a chance to be part of the organisation and get the support but more than 45,000 members are now serving the country in different institutions.

What was the state of trauma and how did you handle it?

There were a lot of trauma cases in the university, I remember one student, during the night he would jump off the bed to hide beneath and tell everyone else to hide ‘they are going to kill us’ he would say.

Another issue was dead bodies scattered everywhere; in the streets and bushes, sometimes one would be told of dogs found eating their mother’s body lying somewhere and oftentimes, the survivor wouldn’t come back after the burial because of hopelessness.

But as the community took shape, we would make sure we attend burials of our colleague’s loved ones and help with all necessary arrangements and helped those who had quit to come back to study.

Honestly, the issue of trauma was new to us and we didn’t know how to handle it, we tried cultural approaches which sometimes worsened the situation. For example, telling someone who is burdened with problems to man up and not cry caused more pain while speaking up was the appropriate solution.

So, we slowly got to understand that healing came through discussions and sharing of experiences, commemoration (Kwibuka) was also another form of healing where victims were given back dignity. In group discussions, students shared the horrible deaths their loved ones faced but during the period of Kwibuka, they were dignified as heroes.

Over a certain period, we received counseling from professional therapists which also greatly contributed to our healing but even today, trauma is still a difficult issue that comes in unforeseen forms.

Nowadays, post-genocide children are facing these mental issues because of trans-generational history, where they start to picture how their grandparents were killed in Genocide, it requires different approaches to deal with it.

Why do we still see teenagers in high schools being members of AERG, yet it’s a survivors’ organisation?

Maybe the problem is the name which says student survivors but in reality, it is an idea that includes everyone, meaning it strives to bring life, to commemorate and fight genocide ideology, things that every Rwandan ought to aim for.

There are no more Genocide survivors in high school but members are people who commit to work and build on AERG vision, including fighting genocide and striving for unity and reconciliation among other acts. That’s why there are those whom we call ‘Uruhongore’ they are the post-genocide generation.

I think it is something nice when they meet as a new generation without the trauma and divisionism we faced, with a focus on building the country. It is our dream.

What are some of activities that the organisation has achieved so far?

We built homes to accommodate those who had nowhere to go during holidays, personally, in 2003 I created a safe home, called "Urumuli Club", for 67 girls who were unsafe in their host families, and the home is still there.

Then there was One Dollar Campaign that was stated by Rwandans in Diaspora and later embraced by those in the country. The money raised built a house in Kagugu Cell, Kinyinya Sector, Gasabo District. It initially accommodated 192 students but as years passed by, the number decreased.

We have a project to give cows to people in three categories; rewarding those who hid people who were being targeted during Genocide, supporting vulnerable survivors and appreciate those who rescued us, Inkotanyi.

On this 25 years anniversary, we gave cows, donated blood and planted trees, all these have a meaning in regard to where we want our country to be.

We also have other income-generating activities for the organisation.

What is the main challenge you face currently?

As AERG/GAERG, things related to Genocide and its ideology matter to us. There are different people who spread the ideology in their families and they are using it to destabilize our leadership.

Nowadays, they are using social media and YouTube channels but we are also there to tell the truth, some of them were members of AERG but have gone astray and joined the enemies of our country abroad.

We will never turn a blind eye to it because we know the consequences.

We have an elder mother called Mama AERG, she said the light of Rwanda shines 24/7 and for all Rwandans, our leadership does everything possible to help its people.

Someone choosing the dark path does not mean that there is no light.

Twenty-five years later, what does the future hold for your organisation?

We want to become a world-leading genocide preventive organisation, because we went through it and we know its consequences and we are proof that life continues, we feel capable of sharing with the world how to prevent it and in any case, how we handle it.

The second thing is mentoring our members to play a part in sustaining what has already been achieved by excelling in different institutions in every sector of the country.

We have over 45,000 members who have the potential to establish strong entities in the region, we look forward to putting in place different economic organisations such as banks and other companies that lead to the development of our country.

Members of AERG who live at One Dollar Campaign complex during the  meeting in 2019 .Sam Ngendahimana

One Dollar Campaign compound (Sam Ngendahimana)