Zerda Nyiranzage has lived the last 19 years hearing footsteps on the pavements. But the footsteps behind her are not hers, but rather, for her brother. 

The brother is long dead, and for Nyiranzage, the guilt that stalks her everywhere reminds her to atone for her brother’s atrocities in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

"I have always felt a huge burden of the killings committed by my brother in the Genocide against the Tutsi,” Nyiranzage, from Rwanteru Cell, Kigina Sector in Kirehe District, said of her deceased sibling’s involvement in the Genocide.  

She shared her testimony at Rusumo High School in Kirehe as the first phase of the YouthConnekt Dialogue was officially concluded on Monday. 

Nyiranzage said she committed to participate in community work alongside Genocide ex-convicts to help the impoverished Genocide widows.  

Most of the former convicts she works with served under Works for General Interest (Tig) programme, which saw thousands of convicts partly serve their sentence doing community work. 

"I was not around when my brother was killing but he, along with his friends, would come back home boasting of how many Tutsis they had killed, which would hurt me throughout the days but there was nothing I could do at the time,” Nyiranzage said. 

She is a member of the group that is committed to preach unity and reconciliation in the district, through bringing together those whose families were killed and those of the perpetrators.  

"People ridiculed me for joining the ex-convicts in the community work where my brother would be, but this is where I feel peaceful, it’s where I feel  the burden of my brother’s killings taken away from me,” she added. 

The activities

The group made of Genocide ex-convicts, survivors and relatives of those who participated in the killings has built 26 houses for survivors, among other activities in the community. 

"If we all preached reconciliation and unity, our country would definitely be a good place – much to the description of the adage that Rwanda is a country of milk and honey,” Nyiranzage said. 

The mayor Protais Murayire commended the activities of the group, saying the district intends to extend such initiatives in other sectors.  

The initiative currently has activities in Kigina and Kirehe sectors. 

Youth Connekt Dialogue is a series of discussions carried out countrywide among the youth on the history of Rwanda and the way forward, mainly on the development of the country.  

Organised by Arts for Peace, a group of musicians and authors led by actor and award-winning filmmaker Edouard Bamporiki and the Ministry of Youth and ICT, YouthConnekt Dialogue has so far toured 14 districts. 

The tours have been running under the theme, "A promise of a generation.” 

At every tour, the youth bench-marked how they want the future of their country to be. 

Bamporiki, the producer of the film, Long Coat, has had his own story to share, because of his own father’s role in the Genocide. 

"Ours is tragic history but it can’t stop us from building a progressive nation,” Rosemary Mbabazi, the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Youth and ICT, told youth at the dialogue. 

May is dedicated to the activities for the youth to sit and discuss their role in building a prosperous nation. 

The YouthConnekt dialogue was mooted last year during a meeting between the youth and President Paul Kagame.  

"This has given us a good picture of how the youth are recommitting to develop the country further and promising that they will be the hands that will strengthen Rwanda,” Mbabazi said. 

She added that the tour that saw them visit the Iwawa Youth Rehabilitation and Skills Development Centre in Lake Kivu showed that the youth can be the best patriots. 

"It’s very inspiring that there is mindset change, and I like the way they say that we love the country; ‘we will work for it, even if it means to give our life.’ That’s patriotism and that’s what we are inculcating in the youth,” she added. 

Mbabazi said it will be an annual event where the youth share ideas of how to further build their country, adding that a follow-up will be made to ensure that the commitments made are implemented.