In 2020, businessman and corporate communications specialist Deexon Muhizi, officially launched Igitree—a phone application that connects lost relatives as a result of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, and other conflicts that left many people displaced.

He wanted to reunite families that have searched for their families and relatives in vain. Though the platform came to light in 2020, he notes that he started building it in 2016 while living in Kampala.

However, he says, the Covid-19 lockdown and finances slowed him down, but ICT Chambers and 250Startup supported his journey for a couple of months. Igitree is now in operation, so far, he is done with the first stage, and from today onwards, every Rwandan can use it, and young ones can use it on their gadgets, that way, culture will never be lost.

‘Igi’, is derived from a Kinyarwanda word, ‘igiti’ which loosely means tree. Igitree is mostly a platform where people can find each other and reconnect, through a DNA test and a family tree.

"With busy schedules, it’s easy for people to be lost in work and other activities that don’t have a chance to connect with relatives, which is why the family tree will be necessary to create bonds and introduce each other to other family members. Diverse families that keep separating worldwide, due to different world circumstances, especially wars, triggered me to start this platform in order to link them,” Muhizi says.

The idea of Igitree was also inspired by the fact that Muhizi yearned to trace his family members, coming from a huge family in all East African countries, he wanted to know all of them. But also to grow the lineage culture that has been slowly fading.

He aims to boost cultural values, through an automated system that helps people digitise their lineage culture, and has an Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning that will be used to reunite migrants that separated from their families.

He says that taking part in the process is easy, after creating an account on the platform, one will be able to start building a family tree and the forcibly displaced will be able to trace each other using Machine Learning. In addition, Genocide survivors will also be reunited through planned DNA match and tracker.

According to Muhizi, anyone with a smartphone can download the app for free. When searching for a DNA match, origin and possible bloodline, an individual is required to pay a onetime fee of $99 (roughly Rwf 95,000).

The app, the first of its kind in Rwanda and Africa, operates in English, but hopes to introduce other languages to attract a bigger audience.

Experiences

Josephine Burungi, one of Igitree’s users says the platform helped her trace her family that separated 68 years ago, when her grandmother left Rwanda.

When she reached out to Muhizi via social media, she shared the knowledge of her family in Rwanda, and that is what Igitree used to track other family members of hers.

"My family was found in Muhanga, in a sector called Mpanda, and traced starting from Umurenge offices, to Akagari offices, with our similar family knowledge of close to a century. For instance, our great grandfather’s names and area he lived in the 1920s, to the neighbours and lifestyle he lived, like where my grandmother and her siblings used to fetch water while young, and more,” Burungi narrates.

In December 2021, she notes, they found her grandmother’s younger sister living at the age of 96, unfortunately, she died early this year, though they got to meet before her death

She also explains that her family lost touch in 1950 after the regime changed from kings to independence. It was then that her grandmother, with her father who was six years old, were forcibly displaced, and migrated to Uganda.

Burungi says that her grandmother due to the situation, separated with her family, and never heard from them, until 2021.

"It took about three weeks for Igitree to trace my family with multiple trips between Kigali and Muhanga. I was overjoyed and emotional at the same time when I set eyes on my found relatives,” she says.

Muhizi who was born in Uganda to a Rwandan father and Burundian-Tanzanian mother, moved to Rwanda with his family in 1994. He studied at Camp Kigali, Alliance High and Nyamata, went to Kigali Institute of Science, Technology and Management (KIST) and continued his studies at a Ugandan university. He is now based in Rwanda.