Giving ‘faces’ to Genocide victims

Close to a million Rwandans were killed during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, but artist Odile Gakire Katese was one of the lucky ones; she was in exile at the time. Distance and absence, however, did not inoculate her from the horrors visited on her country during the 100 days of horrific madness between April and July 1994, neither was she immune to the deadly events and their repercussions. Returning three years later, she barely recognised her country. The tragic events, in which an estimated 1,000,000 Rwandans, were massacred by Hutu militia and government forces over a period of just three months, occurred despite the existence of the Genocide Convention of 1948, which makes it a crime to commit genocide.In response to the world’s collective failure to stop the Genocide, in spite of the early warnings and the United Nations’ presence on the ground in Rwanda at the time; the world body came up with the anguished clarion call of Never Again in an effort to learn from the past and outlined an ambitious action plan for the prevention of genocide in 2004. Balance the testimonies What the world was never told at the time, however, was that the idea behind the action plan came from Katese and led to the birth of The Book of Life. The project is a collection of letters “from the living to the dead,” written by widows, orphans and perpetrators to their lost loved ones and to their victims. The idea for the project came to Katese as she witnessed the pain Rwandans were experiencing recounting memories of those who had been killed. It prompted her to find a way to revisit the Genocide “in a more peaceful way because we have to make peace with our history. “The one thing that seemed to hurt Rwandans the most was the fact that the victims were dead and nothing else,” Katese told the UN wire service, which shared her story with The New Times.“What if we could create a very symbolic way of keeping in touch and, in this way, somehow bring peace to both the dead and the living,” she said; adding that the writing process itself was healing and essential. “I think it is really important to write your pain and nostalgia. You feel lighter and more serene.” Seeking to “balance the testimonies,” the project aims to create a more serene and peaceful space from which Rwandans can revisit and process the Genocide, so that they can move forward, the artist said. It seeks to put a more “human face” on the lengthy list of names traditionally read aloud each year during the Genocide commemorative ceremonies, and strives to commemorate the victims’ lives, rather than their deaths. The letters often recount how the lost ones laughed and brought joy to life. “There have been many efforts to rebuild the country, this project tries to help Rwandans heal and move forward with their lives at a much more personal level,” Katese said, adding that she hopes that by participating in an interactive project such as hers, Rwandans can reconcile themselves with themselves, and with life and death. “This is about memories that reconcile you with your self, it’s a memory that appeases your pain, and brings to life the victims of the Genocide…because I think that, over time, if we tell the story of how they die, we kill them again and again,” she said. Katese said she hopes the “Book of Life” project will continue to grow, extending to generations beyond and across borders “so that my kid and the next generation will find the testimonies of the survivors, stories of perpetrators, and they will find also that we continued to think about them and even our kids can write to them if they want.” She envisions setting up a space where people can write to the victims, remembering them and their lives, and having people from 100 countries write 100 letters on how they are affected by the Genocide and having the collection bound into a school manual for all to learn from. Cultural entrepreneurKatese is an actor, director, writer and cultural entrepreneur and a former deputy director of the University Centre for Arts and Drama of the National University of Rwanda, where she served between 2003 and 2010. She is the artistic director of Ingoma Nshya/Women Initiatives in Huye.She studied theatre in Paris at Ecole Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq and Le Samovar. Performance credits include Shake Hands with the Devil, the Canadian feature directed by Roger Spottiswoode.She has directed for the theatre, Iryo Nabonye, which marked the 10th commemoration of the Genocide in Rwanda. With the play « Des Espoirs » she created in Rwanda the first contemporary dance company Amizero Dance Kompagnie with the choreographer from Burkina Faso Irène Tassembedo. « Des Espoirs » toured in Rwanda, and then played in Paris at the Tarmac Theatre de La Villette. This show, which mixed theatre and dance, was a testimony to humankind‘s ability to rebuild itself after trauma. In Rwanda, the play was performed for schools, universities, survivors and at the Festival Arts Azimuts. With Ingoma Nshya / Women Initiatives, she created the first women‘s drum company in Rwanda.