17 years later, Nyange heroes still inspire Rwandan youth

Students who were killed by the Interahamwe militia at Nyange Secondary School in 1997 are heroes whose bravery still inspires many students.These were the remarks of students who turned up to receive the Kwibuka Flame last Friday as it reached Ngororero District, at the same school.Today, some of the students study from the same classrooms where the infamous massacre took place when the attackers asked students to separate themselves along ethnic lines.It was on the night of March 18, 1997 when the killers, remnants of the Interahamwe and ex-FAR, infiltrated through Mukura Forest from DR Congo, and attacked the school.They indiscriminately hurled grenades at helpless students who had refused to separate themselves, courageously telling the killers that they were all Rwandans.Phanuel Sindayiheba, one of the survivors, sounded hopeful when he testified on Friday as the Kwibuka Flame reached the school.“It’s always good to tell people about what we went through because we aren’t going through it anymore,” he said in an interview with The New Times, shortly after testifying about the massacre.Now a father of two, he takes pleasure in preaching unity and reconciliation, a voluntary task he and fellow survivors of Nyange have dedicated themselves to since the infamous massacre.Standing before a bemused audience, Sindayiheba narrated the ordeal of how killers tested them on the principle of unity and the innocent students victoriously defended the principle with six of them paying the ultimate price.“The attackers asked us to separate ourselves according to ethnicity but none of us took either side (Hutu or Tutsi),” he said.After the testimony, Sindayiheba challenged both the survivors and the rest of Rwandans to build a better Rwanda than the one of 20 years ago.This inspired many in the crowd, including Pacifique Icyuzuzo, a Senior Four student at Nyange Secondary School who said: “We feel inspired to do good. The story of students who refused to separate along ethnic lines at our school is very encouraging,” he said.The students realised that they attend a school with a significant history.“This history reminds us that Nyange is a school of heroes,” said 18-year-old Clementine Uwase.Delivering a message of peace, hope, and unity to the current students at Nyange and other residents of the area re-assures Sindayiheba that genocide will never happen again.“Some of the people who showed the attackers the way to the school and hid them when the army pursued them, are probably among us. Testifying before them gives me hope that they will never serve as enablers of violence again,” he said.Theodette Abayisenga, another survivor of the 1997 school attack, shivered as she toured the classroom and the spot where she lay unconscious after she was injured by the killers.Her message to Rwandans twenty years after the Genocide is to work hard and ensure they overcome any bottlenecks to their development.“Unity and development is what we need but achieving them requires hard work. It is sometimes difficult to live in harmony when people are poor,” she said.Abayisenga said she is surprised to see people working together given the1994 tragedy.“During the Genocide against the Tutsi, I thought the Tutsis and Hutus were never going to live together again. Today they are living together in harmony, are members of the same cooperatives, and go to the same schools,” she said.Abayisenga also supports forums where young people can be taught about the tragic history of sectarian politics and Genocide in Rwanda.She lauds ‘Ndi Umunyarwanda’, an initiative that helps Rwandans, especially the youth, to openly talk about their history, repent, forgive, and heal.“Ndi Umunyarwanda makes it possible for people to meet and share about the past. For instance, students can hear stories from elders and get to know the truth,” she said.Such testimonies from the elders like those shared when the Kwibuka Flame was being received in Nyange left Thais Uwishema, a 20-year-old Senior Six student at Nyange secondary school, even more optimistic about a bright future for Rwanda.“The future is bright because everyone has been taught how to be a good citizen and an independent thinker,” she said in an interview shortly after attending the event at which she was among the receivers of the Kwibuka Flame.

National

17 years later, Nyange heroes still inspire Rwandan youth