Honorine Hiana Uwimana was only nine months old when the genocide against Tutsi emerged.
Although she doesn’t hold a clear memory of what happened at the time, the agony and the scars left by that catastrophic moment echoed on what was yet to be her future, her family’s, and that of her country.
Though she survived, some of her family members and friends didn’t make it. They were murdered, and never a day goes by without her siblings recounting how it all happened.
She says, they always recall how things fell apart and how their childhood was stolen at an early age. Because her siblings have vivid memories of what happened, they suffer with that pain, and this is what weighs most on her when she sees them being tormented that way.
Even though her mother and siblings waited to narrate the story to her until when she was old enough to take it in, events still seemed so fresh to her mind.
"I could imagine every little detail. Although I managed to survive, I was dismayed that I wasn’t able to see some of my family members,” she says.
To her, having grandparents and a large extended family would have been a privilege.
Lasting memories
She recalls her early years of primary school being marked by fear of something bad lurking around the corner.
They would often worry about stepping on landmines and the dread of passing by mass graves.
She considers that her healing started from knowing what happened and finding strength from people and organisations that preached about hope and unity. Photos/courtesy
Nonetheless, as she grew up, she started having a clear understanding of what truly happened and what it meant.
This, she did through visiting memorial sites and observing commemoration activities. This made her ponder on a history that unites and not one that divides.
At school, learners would often contemplate about the history of Rwanda; from its inception to the time of the genocide and what was happening and being done after, Uwimana recalls.
Apart from what she learnt from class, her family heartened her to read books that recount testimonies of what people endured before and during the genocide that was perpetrated against Tutsis.
For her, bringing the Rwandan population together was a road towards unity and reconciliation. All of which, she says, contributed to her own healing and that of thousands of youth who were trying to figure out what happened, mend a rough past and pave the future with hope and dignity.
Knowledge is healing
Uwimana stresses that healing is a never-ending journey but rather a continuous process.
She considers that her healing started from knowing what happened and finding strength from people and organisations that preached about hope and unity.
"Healing starts from the moment you are able to put pieces together in your mind, make sense of the past, rise to count your history with a firm commitment to give a direction to the future. As youth, we need to be able to forgive, own our history, count it and pass it on,” she notes.
She also expresses that reading books did not only form a clear picture of what her young self could not remember but also discovered resilience, compassion, and patriotism she learnt from organisations like Peace and Love Proclaimers (PLP), École du debat (a program run by Institute of Research and Dialogue for Peace), Association des Etudiants Et Éleves Rescapés Du Genocide (AERG) and programs by Never Again Rwanda.
From this, she saw herself and the young generation rising as part of a dialogue and a walk towards uniting, rebuilding, and renewing the nation.
Uwimana carries on that youth born during and after the genocide hold the light of hope. It is therefore their responsibility to make sure that it never dims.
The light of hope has flames of leadership adopted to our needs as Rwandans, women and youth empowerment, literacy, economic development, and a knowledge-based market. This is what the youth have to make sure that it stays ignited as they rise and unite, she adds.