Former Amavubi captain Olivier Fils Karekezi has called on the sports fraternity to participate in commemoration activities and stay close to genocide survivors of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, especially during the commemoration period.
As the sports fraternity joins the rest of the country to mark the 29st anniversary of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, all sports events have been put on hold. Only professional clubs can train without supporters, according to the ministry of sports.
While Rwanda remembers over a million Tutsi killed during the 1994 Genocide, Karekezi, also a Genocide survivor, is convinced that commemoration is the right time to comfort survivors who lost their loved ones during the Genocide in such a tough period.
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Explaining why the sports fraternity should play their part in commemoration, Karekezi said, "as sportsmen and women, we need to be part of the whole commemoration event to help heal those who survived.”
"Sports have played a key role to change the lives of Rwandans and reunite people so we need to keep the same pace,” he added.
During the commemoration week, public lectures and meetings are being conducted at village level and any form of sports and entertainment have been put on a pause.
Athletes across the country are encouraged to attend commemoration programmes that are being held at the grassroots level.
According to Karekezi, sportsmen and women in all parts of the country must lead by example and be part of commemoration activities that will be held at the grassroots level.
"Let us commemorate the Genocide perpetrated against the Tutsi by developing our country and ourselves and helping those who need help, particularly the survivors,” he emphasized.
Karekezi announced retirement from international football a decade ago. He scored 25 international goals in 53 appearances for Rwanda.
The 39-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.
One of successful athletes that Rwanda has ever produced, Karekezi 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.
At club level, the former football talisman played for Rwanda’s APR since 1998 where he left in 2005 to start a professional career with Swedish side Helsingborg. He spent three seasons at the club 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.
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.