Rwanda’s Rebirth from the Ashes of Genocide

 In our presentations, we will share our experiences regarding our positionality in the years leading up to the genocide, our lives during the genocide, and our work in post-genocide Rwanda. We will pay particular attention to the challenges the country has faced in rebuilding and the opportunities arising from these reconstruction efforts. While we will briefly revisit how we came to fall, struggle, and rise from the genocide, we will mostly focus on our everyday life experiences in the post-genocide era. We have learned that Rwandan ethical culture and empathy are the fundamental sources of our resilience, resistance, and remembrance. It is these lessons that shape our lives and the lives of our communities in the diaspora.

Speakers: 

Philbert Muzima is native of Rwanda and a survivor of the genocide against the Tutsi. A former journalist and co-founder of the Rwanda News Agency (ARI/RNA), Philibert is a Tax Officer in the Canada Revenue Agency. He holds a Master's degree in Conflict Studies from Saint Paul University. Philibert is a fervent advocate for human rights, particularly the rights of genocide survivors. He is an author who writes prose and poetry. His book Imbibé de leur sang, gravé de leurs noms or "Soaked in Their Blood, Engraved with Their Names," published in April 2016 by Éditions Izuba, is a testimony of what he himself experienced during the genocide.

Adelit Rukomangana is a native of Rwanda and a survivor of the genocide against the Tutsi and a former Catholic Jesuit Priest. He is married and lives with his wife and children in Vermont. Since 1994, he has been working in supportive counseling, human and mental health services in Rwanda, Kenya, and the United States. He served traumatized child-headed households in Kigali, Congolese refugees in Kiziba Camp, persons with HIV-AIDS in Kibera slum in Nairobi and adults with psychiatric challenges in Vermont. He has spoken about the history of Rwanda, the genocide against the Tutsi to educational, civic and faith – based institutions. He studied in Africa and in the United States. He holds undergraduate degrees in philosophy and biology as well as a graduate degree in social and theological ethics.

Moderator: Rafiki Ubaldo, doctoral Student at The Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Analysis, George Mason University.