Tea factory workers pay tribute to genocide victims

RUSIZI – Workers of Rwanda Tea Authority at Shagasha Factory last Saturday commemorated their former workmates who were massacred during the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. The firm lost about 305 workers to the genocide, 80 of them from the company’s Shagasha factory. “It’s not possible to know the exact number of our workers who were killed in this place during the genocide. But it is a routine that we pay tribute to them,” said Jean Damascene Gasarabwe, the Director of Shagasha Tea Factory. This was the third time the factory was paying tribute to their former workers. The commemoration started with a mass in Giheke sector, Rusizi where many of the victims were killed. The mourners then proceeded to Lake Kivu to commemorate those who were thrown into the lake and River Rusizi. Gasarabwe said the killings were perpetrated by former managers among them Callixte Nsabimana who planted genocide ideology amongst workers. Shyaka Hermenegilde, the workers’ representative, said the commemoration was not only aimed at paying tribute to the genocide victims, but also “inspiring the survivors that there is a bright future for them.” ‘We also aim at eradicating genocide ideology and preaching peace and unity ,” he added. Ends