According to the United Human Rights Council, in 1994,
Rwanda’s population of seven million was composed of three
ethnic groups: Hutu (approximately 85 percent), Tutsi (14
percent) and Twa (1 percent). In the early 1990s, Hutu
extremists within Rwanda’s political elite blamed the entire
Tutsi minority population for the country’s increasing
social, economic and political pressures.
Tutsi civilians were also accused of supporting a
Tutsi-dominated rebel group, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF).
Through the use of propaganda and constant political
maneuvering, Habyarimana, who was the president at the time,
and his group increased divisions between Hutu and Tutsi by
the end of 1992.
On April 6, 1994, a plane carrying President Habyarimana, a
Hutu, was shot down. Violence began almost immediately after
that. Tutsi and people suspected of being Tutsi were killed
in their homes and as they tried to flee at roadblocks set
up across the country during the genocide. Entire families
were killed at a time. Women were systematically and
brutally raped. It is estimated that some 200,000 people
participated in the perpetration of the Rwandan genocide.
In the weeks after the violence started, 800,000 men, women,
and children perished in the Rwandan genocide, perhaps as
many as three-quarters of the Tutsi population. At the same
time, thousands of Hutu were murdered because they opposed
the killing campaign and the forces directing it.
Bagirinka, a member of the Tutsi Tribe, says she was
supposed to die but that her husband, who was Somali, was
able to protect her.
“It was hard and I am not sure how I managed to survive and
stay alive. But I believe I survived because maybe there is
something that I need to finish. That is what I tell the
children,” she said.
Bagirinka worked as a translator on the documentary "God
Sleeps in Rwanda” which documented the Rwandan genocide.
When filming moved to the U.S., Bagirinka sought asylum.
Bagirinka has become an Asset Development Coach with the
Economic and Community Development Institute working with
other Rwandan genocide survivors in Columbus. Over the past
20 years, central Ohio has become the asylum to more than
150 refugees especially Rwandan, Congolese and Burundi women
and their families.
She says she has addressed several high schools and
universities and reaching young people who were not alive
when the genocide took place is a challenge.
“It is tough and hard. But I tell them about how it was for
me growing up. I tell them that they have to work at being
a better person and about being prepared because you never
know when things can be taken from you,” she said.
Bagirinka says when she talks to students the biggest
question she faces is “why did this happen”?
“I tell them it was greed … and hatred. There was lots of
greed. I tell them people came and took houses, cars and
family. Leaders had a lot to do with it. They told people it
was okay to do this,” she said.
Bagirinka says she knows that while it is difficult to get
the story of the Rwandan genocide across to young people she
will continue to tell her story.
“I’m planting a seed in the hopes that it will make a
difference,” she said.
When asked if the events of 20 years ago seem like a long
time ago, she said, “it seems like only yesterday and I
still get tears in my eyes thinking about it.”
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