Students and staff of Institut d’Enseignement Supérieur de Ruhengeri (INES) accompanied by friends and relatives on Friday commemorated the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. As the commemoration period goes on in many areas of the country to remember the 100-day slaughter that killed more than a million Rwandans, hundreds of mourners at INES marched towards Muhoza Genocide Memorial site before they gathered on the institute’s campus where they lit candles and a bonfire. Addressing mourners, the Minister of education, Dr Vincent Biruta, told the students to keep commemorating while they strive to renew a sense of purpose to build a brighter future. “Rwandans had lived a bad life of discrimination and torture but they kept eager to struggle for their country until they liberated themselves. It is now time to build it and you the youth are the ones to shape the future,” he said. The minister encouraged the students to study hard, reminding them that they are the leaders of tomorrow. “We can’t afford to be captives of sorrow because of what happened, we must strive to relieve ourselves from that sadness. We must teach children about the history of the Genocide and how to avoid it,” he urged. Other officials at the event also urged the youth to build on what is already there to prepare their future. The Rector of INES, Dr Déogratias Niyibizi, reminded students who survived the Genocide to always be strong and study hard to ensure that they are self-reliant in future. “We are supposed to help genocide survivors and our students should feel free since we work as a family. But you need to work hard for the past to remain behind and ensure that your present and future are bright,” he said. He pledged that INES will support the students in various activities as long as they inform the administration, which will also continue to organise Genocide commemorations in collaboration with its staff and students. One of the students, Robert Kaberuka, shared his experience in the Genocide and how he lost members of his family and had to survive by hiding in the bush where food was rare that he once had to help himself on food brought by a dog on the run. “I was hiding during the entire Genocide period. I suffered from hunger and couldn’t find anything to eat. Fortunately and surprisingly the dog used to bring me something to eat for more than two weeks,” he testified.
