Survivors speak out on 15th commemoration

As Rwandans join hands in remembrance of their loved ones who passed away in the 1994 Genocide, the whole nation is set to a standstill. It is a period where people cry endlessly, where your best dish will have to taste bitter and you find yourself a stranger to your own life. It is a period that leaves your heart broken, because there’s a lot of grief and hard time, where people are psychologically and emotionally tortured and traumatized. People of different age and status cry out in public and lose their sense of belonging where life becomes once again meaningless. This is where there is great need for strength and prayer from all corners of the world. “They killed both my parents, my aunt and my sister, and they told me to suck my mother’s blood. They promised to kill me too, if I hesitated. I decided to ‘drink’ it in order to save my life since it was the only option,” laments Uwera, a girl of 18 in Kicukiro laments. She states all this amid tears and finally breaks down due to unbearable trauma that hunts her like wild fire. She says she has suffered to death because the only shoulders to lean on are now in heaven. Aline also explains her ordeal in a more agonizing way. She only survived with her younger sister and she says they would only survived by God’s mercy. “Right now we are staying with our aunt who takes good care of us. She takes us to school and nurses us as if we were her real children. More importantly, she encourages us to fear God as this will wash away all our fears and frustrations.” Before all this, they were staying in an unknown place, which they never wanted to disclose but now, they are staying with their aunt who stays in Sahara in Kicukiro District. “At first we suffered untellable fate, but now we realize our parents never died. We thank God for providing us with such a loving aunt,” she adds. A similar incident happened to one Fabrice, a student in a secondary school, who lost all her relatives in the 1994 Genocide. At first, she seemed uncomfortable about the whole issue. “It is something that I am trying to pluck out of my head and talking about it will only prolong my pain. I don’t want to remember anything. How can one slaughter parent in broad daylight? I wish they did it at night when I am sound asleep, but God wasn’t on my side,” she complains. She further says she used to hate herself and even those around her because the pain seemed unbearable to handle. “I am now in school and my future is focused. I am looking forward to achieving my goals in education because my dad says it is the best he can offer, as education is the upshot of everything.” As a period set to commemorate the death of our beloved ones who passed away during the hundred days of darkness is at hand, it is also our duty to go back to our inner selves and check our hearts for proper clean up. In a bid to impart morals during this same period, the church also plays a bigger role. In his mass led at St. Paul in Kigali, father Dominick calls for prayer from all believers, to pray for the broken hearted. He reminded the congregation that one of the ways of crucifying Jesus Christ is the failure to forgive our neighbours. He called for togetherness as Christians such that we stop crucifying Jesus Christ and hence bringing close our neighbours. shebs10@yahoo.com