Rwanda: the stories

CHOICES: THE DVD

Most of the stories on the website are short extracts from the DVD "Choices on the way to peace".

The DVD is a resource used in workshops, small groups and personal study for anyone interested in aspects of healing and recovery from conflict, trauma or abuse.

for more information...

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WIDOWS OF GENOCIDE

Hamid warmly welcomed us into her home.

"My two children and I went from house to house begging for shelter. We often received sympathy until people found out that I was HIV positive. Then they would throw us out."

I noticed the home-made pictures on her wall. "How do these help?" I asked, and our translator read,

"Wealth is not life. Poverty is not a character."

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The world knows a lot about the Rwandan genocide. As bystanders to tragedy we can become strange consumers.

Fascinated yet uncomprehending, appalled but essentially unchanged. Death on such a scale provokes questions from us: how could this have happened? What does it mean?

We show much less curiosity about the survivors and their struggle to rebuild against overwhelming odds.

JOSEPHINE

Three years after the Rwandan genocide, Josephine decided to contact the neighbour who had killed her brother. She said, "I have two things to say to you..."

PRISCA

"When I speak about the genocide it hurts me inside because it was so terrible. My husband was attacked by the militia. I ran inside another house with the children and hid but some of them came and they raped me..."

PLEASE NOTE: you may find the first part of this story distressing

NDAHIMANA

While he was still in the womb, his parents were attacked by the militia. Then, as a two-year-old boy, Ndahimana lived throught the horrors of 1994. Not surprisingly, he developed a fear of people. At age seven, when boys begin school, he just ran home and hid...