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This weekend’s 30-year commemoration has some young people in the country asking important questions about history.
By Annonciata Byukusenge
Thierry Bruno Hakizimana is a young man born after the Genocide against the Tutsi in 1994. His main activity consists of studies because he is a student in secondary school senior sex from the Ruhango district, in Southern Rwanda.
The 21-year-old young man never envisioned that his efforts would be focused on sensitizing people to join the unity and reconciliation program.
He has never dreamed of mentoring people in their daily relationships as he does in the Association of Student Survivors of the Genocide against the Tutsi 1994, known as AERG (Association des Étudiants & Élèves Rescapés du Genocide). He is a coordinator of AERG HIRWA.
Thierry became a mentor of unity and reconciliation after joining AERG in secondary school. As coordinator, he has responsibilities of integrating and building peace between young from survivor families and young families not affected by Genocide.
What is Genocide?
Genocide is an internationally recognized crime where acts are committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.
According to https://phys.org/news/2022-08-middle-aged-men-violence-genocide-rwanda.html, the majority of killers were young people with an average age of 34.
Today Rwanda’s population has reached 13,246,394 people and youth present 54.3% are young according to the results from the fifth Population and Housing Census (PHC) Fifth Population and Housing Census – 2022
conducted in August 2022.
What do young people know of the Genocide against Tutsi in 1994 in Rwanda?
Jane Nishimwe is a young woman who talked to Forefront Magazine, during the Genocide she was two years old. She said that before they didn’t know anything about Genocide. But day by day they are asking their parents what happened in Rwanda causing many widows, orphans, and the commemoration every year.
Thierry Bruno Hakizimana tells what he knows about the Genocide, as he learned it from his parents and school leaders, but much information is told by his mum.
“When I was in primary school, I always asked my mum why each district had more than five Genocide Memorial sites and why they buried hundreds of thousands of people. The first time, my mum didn’t tell me anything about my questions. The second time, she cried and called me, Bruno, excuse me! I will tell the truth, but now I am not in the mood to repeat this story. Be patient please.”
It was the second holiday of my fifth year in primary school. On the third holiday of P5, his mum told him the whole history and how his father survived. His mum told him that the Genocide was caused by the doctrine of hate told by the extremist Hutu leaders that the Tutsi are not human, they must be killed.
“ My son, this hate boosted by the ideology of Genocide has been taught for a long time by bad leadership and these teachings have been introduced in schools teachers discriminate against children saying that the Tutsis should go their place and the Hutus should go their place to identify them easily. The Tutsi were killed by the Hutu, but not all Hutu killed Tutsi.” Bruno’s mother said
Ishimwe Emeline is a young girl from a family that was not affected by Genocide. She says that his uncle told her that the majority of Hutu were not sympathetic to the Tutsi during the Genocide, the reason why the people passed away killed by Hutu.
“The Hutus who killed the Tutsis are from the people who adopted the ideology of the Genocide because of the bad leaders of the government we had. Leaders have played a major role in encouraging the youth to kill instead of encouraging them to do development activities as they are the strength of the country. The majority of people killed Tutsi were young above eighteen like you. But today we have good leaders for the youth who should be a good example and your role model.” Before the Genocide, there was discrimination in different sectors, but today there is no discrimination. We have the Ndi Umunyarwanda (I am a Rwandan) program and everyone has to join it because it is the knot of unity and reconciliation. We have a program of education for all, access to health insurance even for the poorest, we have freedom of expression especially youth because our president Paul Kagame always empowers youth and it makes sense because we are the strength of the country.
How do young people view Genocide and what is its legacy of it?
The 30th commemoration is unique because young sharing their history without the ashamed of the bad actions of their parents, the youth we have now is a new generation as Mr. Jean Leonard Dushimimana the president of Ibuka in the Nyamiyaga sector, Kamonyi district, Southern Province said. IBUKA (is an organization of national and international reference in issues of Genocide prevention, preservation of Genocide memory, and fight against any kind of Genocide ideology. It was established in December 1995.
“The young are curious about what happened in Rwanda in 1994, why it happened and more than one million killed. At this time, we are approaching the 30th commemoration of the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda in 1994. There are groups of young people who have organized plans to visit the memorial so that the history of the Genocide can be better explained, especially to those who will visit the memorial for the first time.”
Challenges
Mr. Jean Leonard Dushimimana the president of Ibuka in the Nyamiyaga sector, says that some parents tell their children fake news about the Genocide against the Tutsi in 1994.
“Not telling young the truth about the Genocide against the Tutsi in 19994 makes some people confused, which is the reason why they underestimate the Genocide, but teaching is comforting, we continue to explain to parents that are telling young the true history is the best because no one chooses where they are born. Lying to them makes them feel ashamed when some of them are with their colleagues, especially young from families that committed the Genocide.”
He added that young people don’t pretend to be between them because of the bad history that has marked some of their parents and they don’t care because there are young who attack their parents. After all, they committed Genocide, and ask why they committed Genocide and why they obeyed the bad leadership that encouraged them to kill the Tutsi. There is hope that the future of the country is bright.
Now the youth are the mentors of unity and reconciliation around the country because, they help us in the mobilization of the people and some of those people have an ideology of Genocide remember that those people have ideology are their parents, uncles, grandmothers, or their grand-fathers.
According to a survey done in 2020, 94.7% of Rwandans believe that unity has been achieved and see it as a responsibility and voluntary commitment they take on. Not yet achieved on adequately being remembered. The government of Rwanda https://www.minubumwe.gov.rw/index.php?eID=dumpFile&t=f&f=63074&token=3f9eb2e7bed47417219b381a6d9f27439e65fad0
The Government of Rwanda makes efforts to bring together Rwandans and to ensure that unity and reconciliation will be fully achieved because, during the Remembrance period, hateful acts against the survivors and derogatory expressions of the Genocide are still visible. https://theforefrontmagazine.com/speech-by-president-kagame-at-kwibuka-30/
