Genocide survivor Felix Abduljabar Gakuba, popularly known as Romalio says being a sports journalist has played a role in healing after losing most of his family in the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi. During the 100-day bloody massacre, he lost his parents Pierre Gatera and Perpetua Cyahunge along with his 4 siblings. Gakuba is a sports journalist at Isango Star radio station. It was only he who survived in his family, thanks to the fact that he was in Uganda for school when the killings took place in Rwanda. Sports journalist Felix Abduljabar Gakuba pictured here in a studio. The pundit lost most of his family members in the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi. “As you know, in the past, it was hard for Tutsis to access good education in Rwanda. That is why my parents decided to send me to Uganda to pursue my studies from there,” he told Times Sport. “In 1990, I enrolled at Light College Katikamu high school and started right away in senior one without knowing a single word of English,” he recalls. Meanwhile, his siblings who had remained in Rwanda were always subjected to discrimination, as trouble continued to brew against the Tutsi. According to information that was given to him by his relatives, when the Genocide started in 1994, the Interahamwe attacked Tutsi in Kigali, and his family started looking for where to flee to. His parents and two brothers Jules Veve Rwambari and Jacques Jimmy Rubona sought refuge at St Joseph’s College, along with hundreds of other Tutsi from Biryogo, a suburb in Nyamirambo . It is here that they were found by the killers and murdered. “My little sister Rita Mami Umutoniwase who had turned 10 on the April 4th, 1994 was hit on the head with a club and thrown into a pit latrine together with other children,” he narrates. Gakuba returned to Rwanda in December 1994, only to find that there was no survivor in his family. He found himself in a situation of sadness and misery, and he had to forge a life in a way he was not used to. “At the age of 20, I started teaching English at Ngoma mosque. In fact, I managed to earn 60 thousand francs through teaching and I used it to pay for my school fees because I had to continue studying,” he says. Some friends of his late father advised him to go to the USAID headquarters to ask for financial support since his father used to be their employee. When he reached the USAID offices, a one Bonaventure Niyibizi, a colleague of his late father, gave him $200, in addition to some more money that the USAID gave him. This helped him pay school fees at APRED –Ndera, where he went for his senior 5 before he later joined the then Rwanda International Academy. While at Rwanda International Academy, he opened a cinema hall at Kimihurura to make some money to support his studies and wellbeing. “I started earning some money to continue sustaining myself without being a burden to people. I opened an account in the then BANCOR bank and started to save. This money helped me to pursue my studies until I joined the National University of Rwanda,” he recalls. In 2005, he started his journalism career at Contact FM as a sports journalist and news anchor and later worked for City radio and Voice of Africa, before he was hired by Azam TV in 2015. He now works for Isango star radio station. He told this newspaper that his work as a sports journalist has played a role in his healing, adding that it helped him overcome the emotional obstacles in his life. He called upon people to unite, move forward, and build the nation. “It is hard to forget the Genocide. We must all unite and honor the victims, but we must move forward and build our country. We must learn how to forgive those who wronged us if we are to move forward. We should all make sure it never happens again,” he said.
