Relatives of criminals or those with a dark past are usually very protective. They usually shift into denial mode or finding means to justify the actions of family members, but not for Zerda Nyiranzage or Edouard Bamporiki.

Nyiranzage’s brother was a notorious killer during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. He and his friends would brag about the number of Tutsis they had killed after their daily raids that it traumatised Nyiranzage to date.

For the last 19 years, she has been burdened by her brother’s evil that she devised a very unusual therapy to quell it: She joined a group of repentant former Genocide convicts in rebuilding the lives of survivors.

They have already constructed 26 houses for survivors. Her quest to atone for relative’s crimes is shared with Bamporiki, whose father was also implicated in the Genocide. 

Bamporiki is behind an Arts group that bring together artists and musician that organises a series of meetings countrywide under the YouthConnekt Dialogue label aimed at sensitising the youth to unite as one.

These are two brave stories from two people who are haunted by their relatives’ past and are driven by a passion to atone. This is a story that is repeated in many corners of our country, where perpetrators and victims of the Genocide sit together in the interests of their communities, that show this country has managed to exorcise its ghosts and is moving forward.