Meraniya, visually impaired and in her 70s, was still grieving all her children, spouse and siblings, among other relatives she lost during the Genocide, two decades later. Without any alive relative except a distant grandson whom no one knew where he lived, she was struggling to even keep alive. Life was hard, given the fact that she was blind and had almost no one to care for her, except other Genocide survivors who would sympathise with her and check on her once in a while. One morning, she felt hungry and woke up to make herself some porridge. She knew where the matchbox and dry banana leaves were to light up her three-stone stove. It is something she had been doing since she survived the Genocide alone in her family. Chantal Munganyinka, a Genocide widow who is now a caregiver at Impinganzima Hostel in Bugesera District. When she lit the matchbox to ignite the leaves, the sweater she was wearing caught fire instead. She tried to put the fire out, but since she couldn’t see, the sweater had already melted on her arm. The following day, Chantal Munganyinka, a Genocide widow went to check on her like she usually did to other elderly survivors, and was overwhelmed by emotions. She helped her nurse the wounds but she always hoped the lives of people like Meraniya’s would be better, although she didn’t know how. Munganyinka is now a caregiver at Impinganzima Hostel in Bugesera district, one of the several around the country that are home to people like Meraniya- the elderly whose families were killed during the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi. A big number of the inhabitants are over the age of 65, disabled or terminally ill, among other conditions. She told The New Times that taking care of the Intwaza (members of Impinganzima) is something she is passionate about and that it comes from a sense of responsibility. “I put myself in their shoes and think of the care I would want to receive, and do it. It makes me happy that I can be of service to the people who need me, and I am glad that I can support my family by helping them,” Munganyinka said. Part of her job is to give a bath to those who can’t get it themselves, brush their teeth, dress and feed them, among others. And according to her, there is no happier moment than to see them clean, happy and satisfied. “I already know my day will go well when they tell me in the morning: ‘I dreamt God’ with a wide smile,” she said. What makes Munganyinka’s job more fulfilling is her belief in God, and in the Kinyarwanda saying that goes “Umubyeyi ahoza undi” (slightly ‘parents soothe each other’). She has wounds to heal, but being in a community where her pain is felt has given her a sense of belonging. During the genocide, she was only 33 years old. She was married to a loving man with whom they had three children together. After weeks of not seeing each other, Munganyinka who was hiding with her children met her husband in a banana plantain in their hometown in Nyanza. They hugged tightly repeating the question “you are still alive”? Her husband then dug a wide but shallow pit where he put all their three children. Leaving only their heads for them to breathe, he covered the rest of their bodies with soil and banana leaves. He told his wife that they should hide separately so that they don’t get killed all together, and that whoever gets a chance should always come to that spot to check on the children. She remembers that exact day when her husband cried before her eyes and begged that if she survives, even if it was with one child, she should never hurt them. He promised that if he survived too, he would do the same. “Chanta, umbabarire ntuzambabarize abana,” he repeated many times. Unfortunately, Munganyinka’s husband did not survive. He was killed by their next-door neighbours where she and the children were even hiding. But she and the children survived. She had made sure to not hide separate from them because she didn’t want them to be killed ‘a bad death’. Nevertheless, she kept her word. She has done her best to get them everything they need, although it was hard. “I tried selling Irish potatoes, cassava flour, and making local brew. I had sworn to never beg and I believe that is the reason I was trusted enough to take care of these parents,” she told The New Times. Munganyinka said that the best feeling she ever got after the Genocide, was when she reached home with food to feed her children. “They would run to me, looking excited and say ‘mama yaje’ (mom has come) and it would melt my heart,” she said. Before Munganyinka joined Impinganzima in 2015, she was part of AVEGA (the Association of Widows of Genocide) committee that was taking care of vulnerable Genocide widows in her community. She was already helping vulnerable Genocide widows; sweeping their compounds, cooking for them, and keeping them company, among others, and she believes it is her God-given talent. Part of why she loves her job is also because she feels fulfilled to be part of what she calls a beautiful cause. “I remember the conditions they used to live in and how they are now happy, well fed, clean, and wearing decent clothes. They keep telling us how things their children would be doing for them and even more are being done by President Kagame, whom they call their son,” Munganyinka said. Her only aspiration now is to start a business right after retiring so that she can get herself anything he wants. She has even started saving money for it. Unity Club, an organization founded by the First Lady, Jeannette Kagame, together with other partners built the Impinganzima Hostels to further look after vulnerable Genocide survivors who did not have anyone to take care of them. Régine Iyamuremye, the Secretary General of Unity Club explained to The New Times that before building the hostels, several options to take care of the elderly survivors had been tried, but they were never effective. “Sometimes we would visit, but some were in very bad conditions; not able to leave their beds. Some would be helped by their neighbours, but it was not that consistent because they also had other things to take care of,” Iyamuremye explained. Now, these people are taken care of in the hostels and offered medical and mental health support, something their children would have probably done for them had they survived.
