The 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi left many with lasting psychological wounds. Many Rwandans, mainly genocide survivors, have tried to go through the healing process in various ways as they look to move on and build hope for a better future. Sport is one of important tools key to assisting people heal from trauma, manage their mental health and learn to cope with hardships that the country went through in 1994. Former Amavubi captain, Olivier Fils Karekezi is an example of a top athlete who confessed that sports played a role in his life after surviving the Genocide against the Tutsi. The Rwanda international lost his mother (Adele Kayirangwa) and two elder brothers (Aimable Ryamugema and Eric Gatera) during the genocide. In the beginning, he had struggled to overcome such a difficult and tragic situation but, as time went by, he found hope in former which, he says, gave him hope to live a new life. In a previous interview with Times Sport, Karekezi said football played a role in assisting him surpass the obstacles to becoming a football legend where is now Rwanda’s top scorer with 25 international goals. ALSO READ: Karekezi calls for athletes' participation in commemoration “It is the spirit of unity, love and peace. Football can unite even the worst of enemies and has been used as reconciliation in broken societies. In fact, if people had the spirit of fair play, the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi wouldn’t have happened,” Karekezi said. “Personally, I have been healed by football; it has given me the chance to travel around the world and meet people of different backgrounds,” he added. ALSO READ: How playing football saved Olivier Karekezi’s life Maxime Mwiseneza is another genocide survivor also enjoying a successful career as a basketball coach for Espoir BBC. Born in Gisozi, in Gasabo District, in June 1983, Mwiseneza is the second-last born from a family of six children. Both his father Alexandre Hategekimana and mother Adele Mukasangwa did not survive the Genocide. He became an orphan at the age of 10 years and he could hardly hope that his future would be anything bright without his parents. However, he said, sport restored hope in him and he started to dream of becoming someone his parents wished him to become. “I would say basketball helped me so much to deal with the fact that I was an orphan because life after the genocide was so rough. For us who were young, it was beyond painful. We had to interact with children whose parents had killed ours,” he said. For Christophe Mukunzi, the former national volleyball team captain, sport has been a good solace for healing after his father, Mathias Gasarasi, was killed during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. “I can’t imagine my life and where I would be without volleyball. The sport has given me the future I never thought I would have.” “Volleyball makes me feel alive,” he noted. Rwanda marks 30 years commemorating the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi which cost the lives of over a million of Tutsi in a space of 100 days. It is during that same period that the country takes a special occasion to remember them.
