“Our Past” commemoration event takes place in Canada

This year’s “Our past” commemoration event took place in Canada, in line with the 26th Commemoration of the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi. The event, which was in its second edition, brought together Rwandan youth in Canada, with the Minister for Youth, Rosemary Mbabazi, the guest speaker, reminding those who followed the event how the Tutsi were victims of maltreatment and discrimination even before the Genocide. The activity, which happened online, gave the youth a chance to participate, comment and ask questions on issues they did understand. The event was characterised by poems, testimonies, songs, among others, in line with commemoration and preserving the memory. Christian Intwari, the founder of Our Past Commemoration encourages the youths to use the internet to read and learn more about what happened in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, so that they will be able to even fight the genocide ideology and genocide denial. Participants read out names of the victims of the 1994‭ ‬Genocide against the Tutsi‭. ‬Courtesy‭.‬ “It is our responsibility now to make sure that the youth take part in the activities of commemoration of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. Because what happened is not just our parents or our grand parents’ story, it our history and it be the history of the generations to come.” More about Our Past “Our Past commemoration event started in April 2012 by a group of young people who happened to be a dance group known as Sick City Entertainment group. The idea behind the event was to give a platform of learning to the young Generation. It particularly focuses on those who were young during the Genocide or born after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, to help them understand the history of their Country but specifically the history of Genocide against the Tutsi to make sure it doesn’t happen again or be forgotten. Other objectives are to encourage the parents to talk to their children about the truth of what really happened in 1994 and before, and to help Genocide survivors in different ways like visiting them, renovating their houses, among others. “This year marked the 9th consecutive edition of Our Past in Rwanda and it is the second time it is taking place in Canada. We had one edition in China in 2015, one edition in Malaysia in 2016 and one edition in the United State in the University of Rochester in New York in 2016,” Intwari said They are a team of 13 members in Rwanda, and 19 abroad.