I’m truly lucky; millions did not live to see this great day
Friday April 23 2021
Pascal Kibibi, a genocide survivor from Bugesera District. PHOTO | SANDRINE UWASE
My name is Ruzindana Ignace, born Feb ruary 17, 1984, in Nyaruguru in a family of six. Genocide Against the Tutsi started, I had taken cows to pasture, and while there, someone from When the 1994 genocide against the home ran towards me calling out for me to return home urgently.
Since then we took off from home as a family and sought refuge in Muganza Parish for a few days with all our belongings. At that time, people were being killed all over, and almost every placed soaked in blood. It was shocking to see dead bodies all over of people I knew. That was so terrifying.
We could not stay long at that parish for genocidaires had learnt of our presence there so, we moved to Cyahinda parish.
Nonetheless, many attacks took place there but the strong amongst us tried their best to protect us best they could. I remember at Cyahinda, I was hiding in a classroom with many other people, and an attack took place at night, leaving many people dead. Miraculously, my mother, sister and I survived.
In the morning, we found my father outside wounded and being given medical assistance. We kept moving from place to place and in due course many of my family members including my father and elder brother lost their lives along the way, until we reached the border with Burundi and found respite.
Different perspective
It has not been an easy battle to fight the trauma of not being able to find the bodies of my loved ones and bury them with honour, but my mother and uncles’ presence helped us recover in various ways.
Prayer restored my emotional frame and gave me strength to keep pushing ahead. I managed to finish my secondary school studies with help from the government, and landed some work to build my life and support my family.
Now, I am a married man with two beautiful children, an achievement I would not have if not for the supportive family and government.
In a nutshell, with all the consequences the genocide left me with, I choose to view life from a different perspective and purposed to fight against thought of divisionism.