Africa-Press – Rwanda. FORMER national Basketball team captain, Aristide Mugabe, says Basketball has healed him cope with the wounds of the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi. Over a million innocent people lost their lives in the tragedy.
Rwanda has produced quite a number of very talented basketball players over the years and one of those is Aristide Mugabe.
He said that “When I began playing basketball in 2000, that’s when for the first time, I felt some relief in my heart; I learned to be open to everyone regardless of who they are, and I felt a sense of belonging to the society again.”
Patriots forward, Mugabe is the second born in a family of three boys and was born to the late Theotime Habiryayo and Veneranda Mukamurehe, on 11 February 1988 in Huye District.
“Ever since I started playing basketball, my life started changing although it was not easy at the beginning. I started making new friends and we could crack jokes and forget the past, they helped me laugh, something that was very difficult before. Basketball also helped me deal with wounds of the Genocide,” Mugabe said
Following the death of his father and brother as well as other relatives, Mugabe lived in several places as his family tried to escape the murderous Interahamwe militia who had vowed to finish off the family.
Through the years, Mugabe has been a serious powerhouse in Rwanda’s top flight basketball, having made his debut with Rusizi Basketball Club in 2007. He has previously featured for Espoir from 2009 until 2015 before he joined the Patriots.
As a child, he used to play soccer with other children including his big brother, who was killed during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi along with their father.
He attended Tumba and Cyarwa primary schools all in Huye District and for his secondary school, he went to Petit Seminaire Virgo Fidelis and College Immaculee Conception de Save.
For his A-Level, Mugabe attended E.A.V Ntendezi in Nyamasheke District in the Western Province and St Joseph Kabgayi where he repeated form six.
Mugabe started playing basketball in 2001 when he joined high school but it was not until 2007 that he made his debut in the top flight division league with Rusizi.
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