KIGALI, RWANDA – Aline Umuhire-Juru, 19, says she was 2 when she lost her father during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. She says that ever since, her mother has struggled to raise her family.
After surviving the genocide, Umuhire-Juru focused on her education. Studying science, she earned many awards reserved for the best female students from the Imbuto Foundation, the first lady’s foundation.
Last year, she was named the best science student in her grade in the country, earning the highest marks on the national examinations. She has received admission to a university in the United States.
Calm and confident, Umuhire-Juru shared her story on Thursday, Genocide Memorial Day, at Amahoro Stadium in Kigali, Rwanda’s capital, as part of the country’s 17th commemoration of the genocide.
Rwanda’s weeklong commemoration of the genocide continues today. President Paul Kagame commenced the events on Thursday by lighting a “fire of hope” and stressing to a stadium of Rwandans that the country’s spirit will never be defeated. Later that night, as many as 100 Rwandans had to be evacuated from the stadium because of their reaction to a graphic film that opened old wounds. To continue that healing, Kagame encouraged Rwandans to keep attending events this week and commemorate the genocide every year.
The Rwandan genocide began on April 7, 1994. Rwandans call April “Mata,” which means “milk” in Kinyarwanda, Rwanda’s mother language, as abundant rain this month usually leads to abundant milk by providing green pastures for cows. But in 1994, April became the month of blood as the start of three months of genocide. More than 800,000 Rwandans died, with most from the Tutsi minority group, who died at the hands of the Hutu majority group, according to the African Union.
Rwandans are currently taking part in this year’s weeklong commemoration, from April 7 to April 13, of the 1994 genocide. This year’s theme is “Commemorating the Genocide Against the Tutsi: Upholding the Truth, Preserving our Dignity.”
The week of events began on a rainy morning last Thursday with a gathering of Rwandan high officials at the Gisozi Memorial Center. Kagame lit a fire of hope that will burn for 100 days – the length of the genocide – and put flowers on the graves of about 260,000 victims. He also visited the documentation center, which shows how the genocide was planned and executed and how far Rwandans have come and still need to go to reconcile.
Jean de Dieu Mucyo, executive secretary of the National Commission for the Fight Against Genocide, CNLG, invited the high officials at the memorial center to Amahoro Stadium, where thousands of Rwandans were waiting to hear speeches, songs and testimonies from survivors.
At noon, everyone in the stadium stood to observe a national minute of silence to remember the genocide victims. Umuhire-Juru and Kagame spoke, among others.
Kagame said that the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi was an attack on “Rwanda’s body,” not its spirit.
“The country’s body was tortured and assaulted,” Kagame said. “The body succumbed, but the spirit prevailed. It is that spirit that should fight on, and that spirit should never be defeated.”
He also criticized countries in the international community that he said might be shielding people suspected of being involved in the genocide.
“Yes, it happened, and it is still happening because you have these genocidaires still roaming in the capitals of the world,” he said. “It is from those capitals that we get a lot of lessons about human rights, rule of law and justice, yet they still have these criminals roaming there.”
Ban Ki-moon, U.N. secretary-general, released a video message for the day saying that the international community has recognized its failure to come to the Rwandan people’s assistance in 1994 but that the U.N. and global community was committed to ensuring such a tragedy would never happen again.
“Preventing genocide is a collective and individual responsibility,” he said, adding that this is the only way to truly honor the memory of the more than 800,000 Rwandans who died.
Back at the stadium, François Xavier Dusingizemungu, president of IBUKA, a nonprofit that acts as the umbrella organization for genocide survivors associations, said Rwandans must focus on the future.
“As we commemorate, we should refocus on unity and reconciliation, fight against the genocide ideology and revisionism,” he said. ”Survivors should also struggle to ensure they live a better life.”
Dusingizemungu said that, thanks to the government’s support, 1,613 survivors had completed their university education and more than 35,000 survivors had homes to live in.
Rwandans returned to the stadium later for mourning night. About 20,000 Rwandans, including Kagame and many government officials, packed the stadium. The rain had stopped from the morning, but it was still cold and windy.
People lit candles of hope, and artists performed songs and poems. A film was also shown about reconciliation, “As We Forgive,” made by Laura Waters Hinson, a filmmaker based in Washington, D.C. But event organizers had to stop the film, which included people killing others with machetes and graphic images, saying it was too traumatizing for the audience to finish watching. Trained counselors and the police had to evacuate about 100 attendees, who were crying and screaming.
On Saturday, a Walk to Remember aimed to raise awareness among the youth to prevent future genocides.
For the rest of the commemoration week, Rwandans are encouraged to attend seminars, films and conferences about the genocide. All Rwandans had off on Thursday and have off during the afternoons for the rest of the commemoration week to do so.
The Genocide Exhibition, launched on April 4 by the CNLG, shows how the genocide was carried out and what life after the genocide was like. The exhibition is open until tomorrow.
The national commemoration week will conclude on Wednesday, April 13, at Rebero Genocide Memorial Site, which honors the politicians who opposed the genocidal regime.
But Kagame said at the stadium that Rwanda would continue to commemorate the genocide every year – even on the 100th anniversary. He said remembering was important and served as the base for restoring the dignity that the Rwandan people were once denied.
“If you don’t remember, history repeats itself,” he said. “That’s the value of this commemoration.”