Kwibohora 21

Kwibohora 21

As Rwanda celebrates the Liberation day on the 4^th of July every year, it also reminds itself to be more resilient and advance socially as well as economically to acquire dignity. It is a grim reminder of the genocide, 21 years back that the people faced for 100 days until the Rwanda Patriotic Army took over and liberated them. It is a day of celebration when everyone wishes one another with greetings of: Umunsi mwiza wo kwibohora! Loosely translated as Happy Liberation Day.

On the eve of this day, we had paid a visit to a remote settlement in Kamabuye sector of Bugesera district as a part of the ongoing rehabilitation of the genocide survivors. It is in the eastern province and very close to the Burundi border. Being a poor country, although the Government does its part, there are limitations to the resources for rehabilitation. So various institutions in Rwanda do their might to support the rehabilitation of the genocide survivors by providing goats, school fees, medication , rehabilitating houses and many other ways. The fund that was collected by the financial institutions, this year was used to rehabilitate two houses which were in very poor condition. It was in this connection that we went to visit the sector and launch the houses that we supported in rehabilitation. One of the house belonged to a lady, well above 70 years old who lost not only her husband but all her eight children were massacred alive right in front of her eyes and she was the only one who somehow survived. Left with no resources and old age, she was very grateful that her mud house was now rehabilitated so that she no longer had to suffer the vagaries of wind and rain. The second house was donated to an old couple. As we were walking along the mud pathway  towards the settlement I was told that it was the current government who built houses for the survivors and that they all belong to different places but now have settled there. So basically the entire settlement was of genocide survivors.

The ceremony was short with speeches, ribbon cutting and testimonies of the genocide survivors. As I was looking at the audience I could but not miss that again here in this remote village too each one including children was wearing a foot gear be it sandals or shoes. The children were eagerly looking at me and waving as they could see that I was different, a foreigner. As the ceremony ended everyone joined the music for dancing in a circle. In a spirit of camaraderie I joined the dance. The women were so overjoyed that one of them hugged me out of glee. As I was waving good bye to the kids, each one wanted to shake hands with me. They were so many of them that I extended both my hands and in no time they all hugged me together. I had to balance myself, lest I lose stability and fall on them. True humanity is so pure and innocent. It does not need introduction and embraces humans with open heart. 

On our way we paid tributes to the genocide victims at the Ruhuha memorial site. Whatever one may have read or seen pictures about the 1994 genocide, a visit to any of the memorial sites leaves one forlorn. Even if you have seen picture, images or read about the genocide – what I mean to say is that even if you are in the know of it, one cannot but feel the remorse when one visits the memorial sites of the hapless victims. We were told that about 9500 were killed mercilessly with machetes, grenades and clubs.  As we entered the site there were skulls neatly laid out and thousands of bones that were stacked up.  A look at the skull and the teeth, one could tell that the people were young. Even infants had been massacred. There were coffins and even mass graves. Photographs of the innocent victims told a sad tale where entire families were made to perish.   In fact the coordinator told me that every year she visits the main memorial site in Kigali and is unable to ever complete the children’s section. She told me that infants were killed by banging them on the wall. Another story is that the innocent child was smiling at the slayer, not knowing what lay ahead just to be picked up and to be pounded in the mortar. Abdomens of pregnant women were cut while alive so that the unborn is taken out and killed.

She narrated that neighbors who were a day before sharing meals had turned killers in response to the call of the then government to finish off all Tutsis. Such was the insanity that even Hutus who supported, empathized or even tried to stop the killers were perished in the frenzy. As if this was not enough there are still statements made of genocide denial as if genocide had never taken place. It is in response to this denial that the sites are preserved by the local administration. We lay wreaths at the site and I said a short prayer for their eternal peace. I also sought a   pardon for I could clearly see that the innocent victims had been plucked out and were truly wronged. Moreover the survivors had not only lost their near ones but also lost in values, tradition and culture that is nurtured and passed from one generation to the other. This treasure they had lost forever. So many times we depend on our parents for support, relatives, sisters for sharing grief and joy. There are many here who are left all alone with no family to call their own.   Many of them were toddlers with nowhere to go and left to fend for themselves. 

As I walked out of the site I silently sought forgiveness of God and said to myself, really dear you have no reason to complaint for the wrongs done to you by people in the past. Those wrongs dwarfed in front of the agony that the genocide afflicted on millions in 1994.

Anagha Hunnurkar

4^th July 2015