Rucyahana receives Wilberforce Award

The Bishop of Shyira Diocese of the Anglican Church in the Northern Province, John Rucyahana, has been honoured with the William Wilberforce Award for his efforts in reconciling Rwandans after the 1994 Genocide against Tutsis. Rucyahana was awarded for his Umuvumu Tree Project that provides both victims and perpetrators of the 1994 Genocide against Tutsis an opportunity to meet, admit their crimes, ask for forgiveness, and take steps toward restoration of normal relations. The Project was introduced in Rwanda by Prison Fellowship International; and since its inception it has been used to reconcile the perpetrators and victims of the Genocide against Tutsis. According to a statement posted on the William Wilberforce website, the President of Prison Fellowship and Break-Point International, Mark Earley said, “If the Rwandan situation can be amended by repentance and forgiveness, and the people there can be reconciled to live together again, forgiveness can happen anywhere.” “We recognize that reconciliation is a key to achieving restoration and criminal justice world-wide, and we applaud Bishop Rucyahana for his monumental efforts in Rwanda,” he added, Speaking at the award ceremony held at the National Conference Centre in Lansdowne, in the United States, Rucyahana said “We must forgive now, like Jesus did while he was on the cross, without God, I would hate such killers with all of my heart, but with God, I can truly say that I love them.” Bishop Rucyahana is a genocide survivor who lost the majority of his family members in the Genocide. In addition to the Umuvumu Tree Project, Rucyahana has also founded the Blessed Mustard Seed Babies Home orphanage and the Sonrise School for children orphaned by the 1994 Genocide against Tutsis as well as HIV/Aids. The William Wilberforce Award, presented annually to a distinguished Christian leader who has confronted formidable societal problems and injustices, is named in honour of William Wilberforce, the English statesman who waged a 40-year campaign against the slave trade in Britain. Ends