An orphan’s effort to see 7 young relatives make it in life

Sweeping the compound quickly, it’s evident that she is set to go some where. Her face is defined with a smile. Though she looks tired and alone. She quickly holds a Jerican to go to the well, an activity she is apparently used to. Yvette Munganyinka is a Genocide survivor in Karama {Kigali} Genocide Settlement where they have just been resettled. To Munganyinka, hard work doesn’t hurt provided she sees her relatives go to school. Having completed her Senior 3, she toils hard to see that her 7 young relatives (children) can get to that level, too. The 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi deprived Munganyinka of her family. Though she had been born to a family of 8 children, she is the only one who survived. “I was only 7 when my family was killed. I was always sad after that but it gave me courage later on,” says Munganyinka. To her, it’s the sadness that awakened her and gave her the courage to live on. Currently, Munganyinka leads a home of 7 children; all orphans who she claims replaced her sisters and brothers. These are distant relatives she got to know after the Genocide. “They are my relatives and orphans like me. I will do anything to make them successful.” The ages of the 7 she stays with range between 16-23. To these, Munganyinka has dedicated her whole life. Before the family had been granted the settlement, she still stayed with the 7 in a grass thatched house near Karama. Munganyinka recalls her big sister’s last words when she was about to be killed. ‘Look for the rest and take care of them.’ This has lingered in her head and memory. It has created a motherly heart in her. “Though I am still young, I feel every kid especially the orphans should belong to a loving family.” Indeed her home activities involve interacting and conversing with her housemates about making it since they survived. “Munganyinka’s courage has kept me in school though I am older than my classmates,” says 17 year old Jean Musatsi. He goes to Karama Primary school. At his age, he’s understandably just in Primary 4. Like the rest of the orphans, forgetting and forgiving hasn’t been simple for him but he still counts on Munganyinka’s advice to forgive those who killed their relatives. “I always tell him and the rest of the boys and girls that living in good health is the best punishment to the perpetrators. Otherwise we should forgive them,” Munganyinka says. She does all the housework during school days so that the rest can pursue their education. Before the Fund for Genocide Survivors (FARG) started supporting them, she would go an extra mile to do domestic chores in different homes in exchange for money to buy books for herself and the other 7. Though they are mature, Munganyinka feels it’s her responsibility that they get all they need like any other kids. “She always tells us that we can make it,” says Antoinette Mukeshimana, one of the children. Whenever people give food supplies to these orphans, Munganyinka says it’s a testimony of God’s love for her and those she takes care for. As for now, the young girl will stop at nothing to see her ‘siblings’ like she calls them make it to the top. Ends