Vulnerable membersof society have been advised not to be overcome by despair but strive to improve their wellbeing. The message was given to vulnerable families including women who were sexually abused during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, children born as a result of rape and other Genocide survivors who gathered at Rusororo, in Gasabo District, to celebrate New Year. Organised by Hope and Peace Foundation, an initiative which reunites families of genocide survivors and perpetrators to build a nation that is based on love and unity. The event hosted leaders from different initiatives who shared stories with the survivors. Most speakers urged the group to always seek solutions to their own problems instead of waiting for support from people who don’t even understand their predicament. “Hope and Peace Foundation, a family of the people who were affected by the consequences of the Genocide especially the youth, is really pleased to have everyone at this event. Today, we are celebrating what we have achieved for the last two years since our establishment. We know there’s a lot that we haven’t yet done, but we are sure that it’s a process and it all takes time,” Honorine Uwababyeyi, the head of HPF noted. “We know where we came from, and what we exactly want to be in the future. At some point, people do not understand our situations, but the only thing that gives us the courage is the principle of never give up.” In 100 days, more than 1 million people were killed on ethic grounds by extremist Interahamwe militias. But it is not just about numbers; behind the numbers are people who lost their lives, their homes, their loved ones, and their properties as well. They were victims of the military forces but also of their neighbours, friends, and ordinary citizens. Twenty one years later, the effects are still being felt across the country. Among those who suffered the most are the women who were victims of sexual violence. To highlight the voices of those women as they overcame the effects of rape, HPF took initiative to build one family, where these people meet and share their stories, so that they seek solutions to what seem to be huge problems. “This initiative is a therapy to me, it changed my life, it restored the hope that I had lost before, and my children went to school. I really don’t know how to express it but all in all they did their part as the people who understand us better,” Marie Jose Uwera-a victim of sexual violence expressed her feelings with tears. “However, we still suffer and have a lot of problems, where for instance our children fail to continue with higher learning education and sometimes hardly have health insurance.” Through ‘Nyumva Nkumve’ slogan, youth survivors of the genocide under the HPF, meet and discuss their issues, share ideas, and come up with concrete decisions. According to many, this acts as a sociotherapy to cure the solitude, takes away the loneliness, and the recovery and the healing from all what happened. “To us, success determines destiny, any single step we make, gives us courage to continue bringing hope. Since we know what we really want, and where we want to go, we will be be patient due the conditions that we live in,” one of the children noted. Hope and Peace Foundation works in Kigali, Kamonyi, Gicumbi and Bugesera.
