“My hope is that future generations will protect peace.”
“I was 11 during the genocide. I remember seeing people change and living in fear. Before the genocide, people lived peacefully together, interacting, visiting and sharing meals. During the genocide, people behaved like animals. I didn’t understand, people came to our home and urged my father to join them in killing Tutsis. He went into hiding and never left the house, but eventually he was persecuted. Men came with machetes and clubs, and we were terrified. Those I had once known appeared completely transformed. They wore banana leaves on their heads, shouted loudly, blew whistles, and behaved as if they were out of their minds.
I was too scared to go out for fear of death or witnessing death, and I saw everyone as my potential killer. I was scared of revenge attacks against the Tutsi, but it didn’t happen. Instead, many survivors returned and chose to live peacefully with those who remained in the country, including my family – even those who had harmed them.
After the genocide, I struggled with mistrust, but over time I saw communities choose to live peacefully together.
Today, there is no longer mutual suspicion. We live together in peace, participate in savings and lending groups, and share everyday life as a community.
Even where violence was not directly witnessed, its effects were felt. Today, those same communities are part of the ongoing work of rebuilding relationships.