The level of history-induced wounds, including traumatic experiences, is high among the youth, a situation that needs effective and well-coordinated efforts to address, the Minister of National Unity and Civic Engagement (MINUBUMWE) has said.
Jean-Damascène Bizimana made the appeal on Friday, May 06, 2022 during a meeting organised by the Ministry, with actors that intervene in social healing and cohesion.
Among its objectives, it sought to improve collaboration between Government institutions, NGOs, faith based organisations and others, in order to set up appropriate healing interventions to different regions in the country.
A Rwanda Mental Health Survey conducted by the Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC) in 2018 revealed that major depressive disorder was found in 35 percent of the Genocide survivors, and 12 percent of the general population. Prevalence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) was found in 27 percent of Genocide survivors, and 3.6 percent of the general population.
Meanwhile, Bizimana said that in 2021, Unity Club commissioned research with the aim to identify wounds related to the history among the youth. This research is what indicated that there were history-based wounds, including trauma among the youth.
He said that the highest level of history-related wounds was reported at 99 percent among youth who do not know their origin, something he described as "alarming.”
These are mostly people who were babies when the Genocide was being committed, and were in most cases rescued by RPF Inkotanyi soldiers who took them to orphanages, or were adopted by other families, Bizimana explained.
"As they grow up, they wish to know their origin, but they do not get that chance. Living in a situation where they do not know their [family relatives] always inflicts wounds to them,” he said, indicating that it is a major issue that needs attention.
This category was followed by youth who survived the Genocide [but who know their origin]; with 87 percent of them suffering from history-based wounds.
The third category, he said, consists of young people born from women who were abused during the Genocide, these are at 69 percent.
History-based wounds were also reported among children born from parents with different ethnic identities – with a father being a Hutu while a mother is Tutsi or vice-versa. The prevalence was at 43 percent in this category.
In regards to factors causing this, Bizimana said, the Unity Club study showed that the youth feel neglected by the Rwandan society; some do not know their origin, don’t have a family, or have conflicting families.
Other reasons are, being called derogatory names, and being blamed for the crimes committed by their families, among others.
"This data suggests that the prevalence of history-based wounds among the youth is high, yet, normally, such levels would be going down 28 years [after the Genocide],” he said, indicating that most of those young people are at least 25 years old.
"This shows the magnitude of the problem and why we should partner to devise effective strategies to tackle it,” he said.
Addressing the gaps
A study made by the former National Unity and Reconciliation identified 78 actors in the field of social healing and cohesion. They include government institutions, local and international NGOs, faith based organisations and community based initiatives.
The same study pointed to key challenges in this field. They include lack of proper guidelines, coordination and complementarity among actors; concentration of actors in the same districts, overlap and duplications of interventions.
Others are lack of sustainability and follow up in some programmes (funds-driven initiatives), mismatch between the planned activities, reports and the reality on the ground, as well as approaches that do not respond to beneficiaries’ needs.
Tristan Murenzi, Executive chairperson and founder of Rwanda We Want, a post-genocide youth organisation which seeks to empower young people, said that the intergenerational trauma whereby trauma suffered by parents is transmitted to young people is a pressing issue.
Sometimes, Murenzi said, local leaders in districts do not make trauma or social healing a priority, arguing that they want partners who carry out tangible activities such as building houses for the vulnerable.
"When trauma is not healed, it results in depression, which can lead to suicide if not addressed in a timely manner. The trauma issue should be treated as a national priority,” he said.
Claire Nancy Misago, Director of Community Mental Health Intervention Unit at RBC said, the fact that trauma among genocide survivors is three times that of the general population implies that there is a need to put more efforts in helping that category of Rwandans.
Julienne Uwacu, Executive Director of the Community Resilience Department at MINUBUMWE said tackling trauma is a national priority, as the country seeks to have a strong, united and prosperous community under its Vision 2050.
"We should revisit the geographical distribution of the healing support so that we avoid a situation where many partners are working in one area of the country, while there is one or none in another,” she observed.
"We should change the way we work so as to optimise healing gains,” she said.