Aegis Trust gives facelift to Genocide widow’s home

Aegis Trust in collaboration with the Kigali Memorial Centre (KMC) yesterday gave a facelift to a Genocide widow’s house at AVEGA Agahozo widow’s village in Kimironko. This was done as part of the campaign to restore hope to Genocide survivors as the country commemorates 15 years after the 1994 Genocide against Tutsis. Speaking to The New Times, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Aegis Trust, James Smith, said that the move was among the many projects that are being executed in helping the Genocide Survivors to restore their hope for the future. “There is a message of hope from all around the world where influential people and celebrities will join in lighting 10,000 candles to commemorate 15 years after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsis. But we saw it necessary to help survivors like Veneranda Nyiramana materially,” said Smith. “Nyiramana is among the tens of thousands of widows out there but she was selected because she has been closely working with us and we know her condition. But this is just the beginning as many others are yet to be helped in this campaign. According to Nyiramana, a mother of two, the house had been in a very bad state before it was renovated. “I thank the people at the Kigali Memorial Centre that helped in renovating this house because it was in poor condition but they helped replace the wooden windows and doors with metallic ones,” she said. She was raped several times during the Genocide and contracted HIV/AIDS in the process, but came to learn about it in 2005 when she started having health complications. According to the Manager of KMC Freddy Mutanguha, the renovation process of the three bed-room house and a sitting room took Rwf2.5 million. “We are doing this for her because she cannot do it herself; she is a widow who is also infected with HIV/AIDS,” explained Mutanguha. He added that the money was raised through a fund that was created by both the Aegis employees in the U.K and the workers at KMC to help in such activities. Aegis Trust, a UK based organisation was invited to manage some of the key memorial sites, with local partners such as the National Museum and Kigali City Council. A number of sites have had plans designed, aiming to preserve the past without excessive intervention, and to provide public space for remembrance and education. Ends