Hope after Genocide, a survivor’s resolve

Having been a witness in Gacaca courts, Jean de Dieu Kayitare opted not to have his photo published Emotional and physical grief fills Rwandans as they commemorate for the fifteenth time those who were killed during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. Jean de Dieu Kayitare is among those survivors with terrifying testimonies. He talks of his story, a tragic and heartbreaking testimony of survival. He speaks of running at night in fear of losing his life at the tender age of seven, going days without food or water and witnessing the deaths of his entire family, one person at a time. The 22 year old is among many in child headed families which were a result of the Genocide. He takes care of two of his siblings, Claude Nsabyimana, 16 and Jeanne Usanase, 18. Kayitare recalls that the trio narrowly survived the machetes when they managed to escape the country with others to neighbouring DR Congo. Before the Genocide, his family lived in the beautiful village of Mayange, Bugesera in the South-eastern part of the country. They were farmers and owned hundreds of acres of land with many heads of cattle. However, in 1994, during the Genocide his over a million of Rwandans, including his family members died. Kayitare says that men were the target, because they were trying to defend the village from the Interahamwe militias, while women and girls were raped and killed. “The situation was horrific because babies, pregnant mothers and elderly people were not spared from the sharp machetes.” Rwandans who fled to DR Congo were settled in the refugee camp of Biringi settlement, in the North-Eastern part of the country. They were hit hard by poverty, humiliation and diseases like Cholera. There were cruel consequences for being stateless.Kayitare says that as refugees in the settlement, they used to sleep on empty stomachs. “We were later saved by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) which provided us with food and shelter.” Some people may hate to hear such testimonies about the genocide. But as the saying goes, “Ukuri guchamuziko nigushe” literally meaning “the truth will always triumph”. We shall always need their testimonies for the record, as it remains profoundly relevant to the Rwanda’s peace building process. People should under no circumstance be denied the right to settle in their own country. From 1959 to 1994, Tutsis in Rwanda were harassed, killed and forced to flee their own motherland because of a tribe they never had a choice in being. Clad in a black trouser and a checked shirt, the former Mayange Primary School pupil comments on unity and reconciliation, which he believes to be the only weapon to suppress genocide ideologies and unite Rwandans. Given his age, he should be nearing the end of his university life, or perhaps applying for p rofessional jobs in the country. But his education and life’s journey were roughly interrupted by the Genocide, which left him with bigger responsibilities at an early age. Back then, he was a typical 7-year-old with dreams of university and a better life. His home was in the village where, when he was not studying, he helped in the fields. But this changed. He describes in great detail how they suffered while in the camp only to be saved by the RPF [Rwandan Patriotic Front] after it had liberated the country. He returned fourteen years ago. He confesses that initially he held thoughts of revenge against the people who killed his parents and left him homeless. Fifteen years on, the country is at the forefront of the physical, emotional and spiritual healing that is moving Rwanda forward. “I have a lot of hope,” Kayitare says of the current government’s initiatives to forgive the genocide perpetrators who pleaded guilty and asked for forgiveness. “The government’s policy is making a difference. “It will help survivors and the perpetrators to unify and live again in harmony without any further hatred.” He joins the rest of country and the world at large in saying Never Again to Genocide. Ends