The umbrella organisation of Genocide survivors’ associations, Ibuka, has issued guidelines to help Rwandans, particularly those who survived the Genocide against the Tutsi, to access mental health support from the confines of their homes.

The guidelines come at a time when the government continues to encourage Rwandans to stay at home as part of the effort to combat the coronavirus (COVID-19) which has ravaged the world.  

Rwanda on Monday, April 6, confirmed another case of COVID-19, bringing the total recorded positive cases to105. Four have since been discharged from hospital after recovering from the virus.

The Executive Secretary of Ibuka, Naphtal Ahishakiye, told The New Times that efforts have been channeled into ensuring that trauma is dealt with during the commemoration period while at the same time guaranteeing all safety measures to mitigate the spread of the virus are followed.

To achieve this, Ahishakiye said that this year, teams will be on standby to deal with issues of trauma, beginning with mental health doctors from the national level down to the local level where there are other people who have been trained in this area by the Ministry of Health who have been supporting this initiative for years.

Breakdown of teams

Ahishakiye explained that on the national level, there are four mental health experts who can be reached on a toll free number at any time.

The helplines provided by Ibuka are; 5476, 1024 on top of one by Rwanda Biomedical Centre which is 112.

"This team is in charge of providing input on how best people dealing with trauma can be helped and to analyse reports provided by teams on the district level and fix the issues that may arise,” he explained.

On the district level, there is a team of two mental health specialists, one of whom is from the national association of women widowed by the genocide, an employee of AVEGA.

"These two have the responsibility to choose at least two social psychosocial therapists on every Sector level to coordinate the activities in their area, to train them, to coordinate reports from the sector level and to find immediate help for anyone whose trauma level requires them to be rushed to hospital,” he said.

On the Sector level, a team of two psychosocial therapists, who Ahishakiye says may increase in number depending on how many genocide survivors are in that area.

This team will be in charge of choosing at least two people who were trained by the Ministry of health in mental health matters, who can provide basic support.

They will also be responsible for producing reports which they will present to the district level teams and to provide any additional services by use of telephone.

On the Cell Level there are two people who were trained for this. Ahishakiye says that their responsibilities will include identifying genocide survivors who have previously showed signs of trauma and reaching out to them.

"This team will be in charge of preparing the survivors for the commemoration period, to choose focal point persons to help them on the village level and to provide any support on phone. They are also will be in charge of finding help for those whose issue has escalated,”he said.

A rising issue

In an exclusive interview with The New Times last year, Ahishakiye said that the biggest challenge survivors have to deal with almost on a daily basis is trauma.

"A recent survey by Rwanda Biomedical centre indicates that 35 percent of the survivors live with severe trauma which can lead to death. The numbers are going up instead of down,” he said.

He pointed out that the number of youths who were not in Rwanda during the genocide but are experiencing trauma is high and requires serious intervention.