EDITORIAL: The youth need more role models to break the ethnic barrier

In 2011, The New Times ran a testimony of a Genocide survivor in the Eastern Province who was just seven years old in 1994. What sets the story apart from the many recorded, was its tragic narrative. The young man was of ‘mixed’ parentage; his father was a Tutsi and the mother a Hutu and they bore nine children. Then in 1994, at the height of the Genocide, his mother turned against the family. She did the unthinkable; she personally handed her children to killers and witnessed as they were being slaughtered, and then revealed where her husband was hiding, the young man survived narrowly to tell his tale. Today in that same province, another ‘mixed’ couple has a different story. A Tutsi, a Genocide survivor, married his Hutu sweetheart against the wishes of both families. The man’s family refused to give him dowry for his bride and also skipped the ceremonies. The obstinate young couple dismantled the unspoken barrier, especially when the wounds of Genocide are still open and prejudices rife, however silent. Some of the bride’s close relatives took active part in the killings. But Gilbert Kabeja and Vestina Mugayinka have lit the flame of hope, that the new generation has a bright future, free of artificial divisions. The love story is the product of relentless efforts that the government has undertaken towards unity and reconciliation. Such inspiring stories need more airtime, especially among the youth who could be the unwilling victims of ethnic profiling and stereotypes. But what is most important today is that the unity and reconciliation campaigns are beginning to pay off.

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EDITORIAL: The youth need more role models to break the ethnic barrier