30 years after the Rwandan genocide, a survivor tirelessly bears witness

On April 7, 2024, a long sequence of commemorations began in Rwanda, 30 years after the start of the genocide against the Tutsis that left nearly 800,000 dead. “We must bequeath to humanity everything we know,” explains Félicité Lyamukuru, a survivor.

Often words fail him to express the horror that turned his life upside down when his happy, united family was wiped out. “On April 7th, I lost my mother, my sisters and brothers, five out of seven, how can I tell you the feelings after losing everyone, suddenly and everywhere”testifies Félicité Lyamukuru, who survived the Rwandan genocide, which left nearly a million dead in 1994, mostly Tutsis, but also moderate Hutus.

She has been tirelessly visiting schools for several years to explain the mechanisms of hatred to the youngest. She often accompanies students on class trips to Rwanda and goes with them to the sites of the massacres. She trains and supports on various memory projects. Thirty years after the genocide, one of her fights is against Holocaust denial, which thrives on social networks. In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the neighboring country where many genocidaires fled, relations with Rwanda are still very tense.

Having lived in Brussels for almost 25 years, this mother of four explains what the commemorations of the 30th anniversary of the genocide meant to her and how she lives with the dead. “It’s always impressive and painful (…) but even if it seems like it was yesterday, when I see my eldest daughter who is 20 years old, it tells us that it wasn’t yesterday and that many things have come true…”

If she still suffers every day in her body, 30 years is “the time of a generation. HASToday, you can meet adults in Rwanda who are 30 years old and who do not have this direct connection with the genocide, she describes, “It’s a hope”. But for the others, “Time does not change these wounds”and if “Justice is so slow, it has its place, it has its role that nothing else can do. Even if it is slow, we are patient.

“Every time a genocidaire is judged, it is justice for many survivors and for the victims.”

Félicité Lyamukuru, survivor of the Rwandan genocide.

to franceinfo

After a personal story entitled Hurricane hit Nyundo Released in 2018, Félicité Lyamukuru wrote her second book, a collection of short stories based on the testimonies of genocide survivors, because “It is very important to write, to restore what is known. It is a story for all humanity, we must bequeath to humanity everything we know.”.