A book with a compilation of testimonies from dozens of survivors of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi was presented to the public on Tuesday at Kigali Public Library. The 407-page book was originally published in French under the title; Cahiers de Memoirs has also been translated in Kinyarwanda with help of a local publishing house, Editions Bakame. The testimonies that make up the book were collected by French author Florence Prudhomme with support of the National Commission for the Fight against the Genocide (CNLG). “I did not write the book but proposed them to write. I have known them for years when I proposed them to write because I came to for the first time in 2004,” the French author said. She added: “They suffered a lot and for many, reliving the past evokes trauma. I thought I would help them to unload what happened to them by writing down all they went through”. Marie Ntabugi, one of the authors, hailed the work done by the authors, saying that this also brings honour to the loved ones who were killed in the Genocide. “When you are a Genocide survivor, there is that feeling that you owe it to those who died and those who did everything in their power to save you, to speak out on these horrors,” Ntabugi said. Writing is a good way to mourn and honor the lost ones, she said. Among other books that have been authored by Prudhomme include ‘Le Rwanda, l’Art de se Reconstruire’ published in 2015. Jean-Damascene Bizimana, the CNLG Executive Secretary told survivors not to give up but continue to write more stories and get to document all their memories so the world knows the truth from the very people affected by the Genocide. editor@newtimesrwanda.com
