IPAR staff commemorate Genocide, support survivors

The staff members of the Institute of Policy Analysis and Research (IPAR) last week visited Ntarama Genocide Memorial in Bugesera District and paid tribute to the over 5,000 victims killed at the church. The victims had taken refuge at Ntarama Catholic Church, expecting killers to respect the holy place but killers slaughtered them, including babies. Protais Musoni, a guide at the centre, explained how killers had vowed not to spare any Tutsi, spraying pepper among bodies to discover survivors. IPAR staff also visited and supported survivors in a village named after former South African President Nelson Mandela. They provided different support to the survivors living in the village, mostly foodstuffs. According to Eugenie Kayitesi, IPAR executive director, Ntarama has a particular history in the genocide that some of IPAR young employees needed to know. She said that IPAR annual visit to genocide memorial centres and reaching out to genocide survivors is a moral responsibility for every Rwandan. “The elderly survivors of the Genocide need our support, we must be with them. We have visited them to show them they are not alone,” she added. Eugenie Mukarwego, one of the survivors hailed IPAR support saying; “We have recovered from the past and we are strong. With such visits to us, we are stronger” IPAR is a not-for profit research and policy analysis think tank that was established in 2008. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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IPAR staff commemorate Genocide, support survivors