Women who were sexually assaulted, infected with diseases, and forced into exile during the 1994 Rwandan genocide, remain deeply scarred three decades later.
Fr Marcel Uwineza SJ said that the stories of the women “who have endured deep wounds and carried heavy burdens all their lives” gives a voice to those who “were practically silenced by the genocide”.
Uwineza, the principal of Nairobi’s Hekima University College, told ACI Africa that Rwandan women have wounds that manifest today as the country marks 30 years since the genocide, a wave of killings by Hutu mobs from 7 April to 19 July during which nearly one million people, mostly from the Tutsi minority, died.
“Many women in Rwanda have had to carry with them long years of suffering because of bringing up children who were conceived through rape,” Uwineza said.
“Others were infected with HIV and have had to live with the condition all their lives. Many carry scars on their bodies because of the beatings they endured. Others had to carry the burden of their families because their husbands were killed. They not only carry the wounds of history but the burden of having to tell the story of their resilience as well.”
Some of the women, for fear of reprisal, have not described their experience in the genocide, in which an estimated 75 per cent of the Tutsi population was killed.
Other women who were sexually molested also preferred to keep silent fearing that they would never find a husband if they spoke about their rape, Uwineza said, adding that others feared that they would be rejected by their families. Many did not want to made to testify in public about their experience.
Uwineza said it is important that the stories of resilience of women who suffered the genocide against Tutsis and moderate Hutus be told “because 30 years is a big milestone”.
“It is important that the world knows how women can turn a test into a testimony, and a mess into a message,” he said.
Alluding to title of his book Risen from the Ashes: Theology as Autobiography in Post-Genocide Rwanda, he added: “In what had appeared as complete brokenness, resurrection has happened for many of these women.”
Uwineza recalled that in Rwanda’s 100 days of genocide against Tutsis, many women went into exile. Some, he said, joined the armed struggle in their effort to come back home when they felt they had no rights in their host countries.
According to Uwineza, women in Rwanda still carry with them wounds from a Church that abandoned them. Many people were killed while sheltering in church property.
Rwanda’s story is better told by those who experienced it, said Uwineza, who also lost his parents in the genocide. “History is often told from the perspective of winners,” he said. “But it is important to listen to the stories of the wounded.”
“Survivors are often the best authority when stories of struggle and resilience are told. When we speak, we give voice to those who were meant to be silenced in the genocide. Speaking is giving witness to their lives,” he said.
Those who suffered in the genocide also “left an unfinished agenda”, he said. “Telling their stories is joining their fight for dignity.”
Uwineza said the story of the genocide against the Tutsis must also be repeated to counter the narratives of rising numbers of genocide deniers on social media.
It is also important that other countries learn from Rwanda that violence leaves behind deep wounds, and some of these wounds never heal, Uwineza said.
“Unfortunately, the only lesson we learn from history is that we don’t learn anything. We don’t seem to have learned from what happened in Rwanda.”
Uwineza underlined the need for Rwanda to engage with its history, painful as it may be.
“After the genocide, we stopped teaching the history of Rwanda because the history we had was very divisive. But we can’t continue ignoring our past if we have to move forward,” he said. “Messy as it has been, it is our past. We therefore must engage it and own it. We all were wounded, and therefore, we need constructive history that will unite us.”
He said that Rwanda needs “a prophetic Church” if it is to heal.
“At the time of the genocide, the Rwandan population was around 80 per cent Christian. Yet all these merciless killings happened, some at religious places. As a Church, we must stop and ask ourselves what went wrong,” Uwineza said.
“We must develop a theology of hope and reparation that looks back to where we went wrong and one that envisions a better future so that these things are not repeated,” he continued.
“We must also acknowledge that some leaders in the Church made mistakes and that they do not represent the Church. We must also recognise Christian heroes who were killed trying to save lives.”
According to Uwineza, a prophetic Church must also look at who is missing at the table of dialoguing into a better future. “Are women included at this table, given that they have made a lot of contributions in the civil society spaces?” he asked.
On 11 April, Uwineza gave an address at Villanova University on the topic “Women Peace-builders in Rwanda Since Genocide”, highlighting how a section of the Rwandan women affected by the genocide have risen above their wounds to contribute to the healing process of the country.
He said that since the genocide, the status of Rwandan women has improved.
“Alongside their male counterparts, women chose to look beyond the horizon of tragedy. Women’s participation in associations, credit groups, and farm cooperatives has grown greatly,” Uwineza said, noting that women in the Rwandan parliament have promoted laws that protect women against gender-based violence.
Additionally, after the genocide, women joined support groups and organizations such as Pro-Femmes, an advocacy organisation for women, Abasa, an association of women who were the sole survivors of the genocide in their families, and Ineza, a sewing cooperative of women living with HIV as a result of the genocide.
“These women created a new landscape where they could breathe new air through their work and sharing of experiences. Others forged a new future for their children,” Uwineza said.
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