AMAVUBI legend Olivier Karekezi is regarded as one of the most successful footballers that Rwanda has and is part of Rwanda’s golden generation that secured the historic qualification to the 2004 Africa Cup of Nations in Tunisia.

The 41-year-old has for the past two decades found joy in football which, he says, saved him from the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

However, the emotional wounds are still fresh for the veteran who says he still gets in his head, bad memories of his mother (Adele Kayirangwa) and two elder brothers (Aimable Ryamugema and Eric Gatera) being killed by the Interahamwe.

Karekezi was born in Gikondo, Kicukiro District, in a family of six, three sisters and two brothers who, with their mother, were killed during the Genocide against the Tutsi.

Karekezi was 13 when the Genocide happened. Seeing them killed in front of him where they had fled at Gikondo Catholic Parish means he became an orphan after his father died in a car accident in 1987.

He survived the killings at the Parish after a man, whom his father had helped before he died, begged the perpetrators to let him go.

Returning home, he found their housemaid with wounds after she was cut several times. He stayed with the man who had helped rescue him but they lived in fear after being told by Interahamwe militia that they would be killed on May 5, 1994.

Karekezi was already an amazing football talent to watch at a tender age. And, by God’s grace, he survived the killings for the second time, which happened before the set date, after a man who used to watch him playing with other young talented footballers in Gikondo, told the militia to let him go.

"That man who rescued me never knew my brother. He had just come from Burundi for vacation. They killed him accusing him of being part of the RPA and claimed he had been attending military courses in Burundi,” he recalls.

All those are moments which always come back to haunt him especially during the commemoration period, but football has helped the veteran try and deal with those scars.

Karekezi went back to school after the Genocide at APE Rugunga before shifting to Groupe Scolaire Officielle de Butare where he started his football career with then second division side Intare FC in 1997.

"Football was crucial in helping me deal with those emotional scars and it helped make me busy and forget bad moments that I witnessed during the Genocide. It was not easy in the beginning but, thanks to football, I managed to overcome the situation,” he said.

He later joined APR FC in 1998 where he not only enjoyed many years of success at the club, on the domestic and continental scene, but also managed to start life afresh.

While at APR, Karekezi admits it was, in the beginning, not easy to play with some players whose parents were involved in the Genocide. But, with time, he managed to move on.

He recalls that the club’s officials, who are in their nature from the military personnel, helped him put the past aside and just focus on football so he could become a ‘man’.

"It was not easy but I met different military officials who tried to help me overcome the situation. They could give me examples of families that were wiped out and hence don’t have any survivors. I have since realised that I should thank God that there are at least survivors in my family,” he said.

He left APR in 2005 to start a professional career with Swedish side Helsingborg where he spent three seasons before joining Norwegian topflight league side Hamarkameratene.

He also played for Swedish second division club Östers IF on a two-year deal and Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 club CA Bizertin and later Swedish side Trelleborgs.

He made his international debut for Rwanda in 2000 where he spent 13 years with the national team before announcing his retirement from international football in August 2013.

The Amavubi top scorer, who scored 25 goals from 53 appearances, was part of the Amavubi team that featured in the 2004 Africa Nations Cup finals in Tunisia – the country’s most successful football team to date, and the only time Rwanda has participated in the continental showpiece.

After securing his UEFA Pro License A, Karekezi launched his coaching career and has coached Rwanda’s top flight teams like Rayon Sports and Kiyovu SC.