{"id":39768,"date":"2023-04-13T17:12:54","date_gmt":"2023-04-13T17:12:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/kwibuka-29-how-volleyball-helped-mukunzi-to-forgive"},"modified":"2023-04-13T19:02:11","modified_gmt":"2023-04-13T19:02:11","slug":"kwibuka-29-how-volleyball-helped-mukunzi-to-forgive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/kwibuka-29-how-volleyball-helped-mukunzi-to-forgive","title":{"rendered":"Kwibuka 29: How volleyball helped Mukunzi to forgive"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Rwanda. <\/strong><\/span>Former national volleyball captain Christophe Gasarasi Mukunzi recalls that volleyball has helped him to forgive \u2018everyone who played a role\u2019 in killing his loved ones.<\/p>\n

Mukunzi was only six when the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi occurred.<\/p>\n

His father, Mathias Gasarasi, was killed during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. Yet 29 years later, the family is yet to locate his remains so they can accord him a dignified burial.<\/p>\n

At the age of 20, Mukunzi made his league debut with Kigali Volleyball Club (KVC) in 2009 \u2013 a few months after completing secondary school. Prior to his maiden league player licence, he had featured for different school teams in local and regional championships.<\/p>\n

When the left attacker joined KVC, his heart started to beat the day he heard that the team was nicknamed \u2018Buhiri\u2019 Volleyball club. The club, it is said, was given the alias because no Tutsi players were welcomed to play there before the Genocide.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was like \u2018what if I am joining those who killed our loved ones?\u2019\u201d he recalls.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut when I arrived in the team, they welcomed me and, shortly later, I felt at home,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just came to a conclusion that it was time to take what happened, even if it was hard, and free myself to move on. That is when I started feeling a part of the group with not any hesitation,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Thanks to volleyball, Mukunzi was convinced that he was doing the right thing when he decided to forgive the person who murdered his loved ones, including his father, during the Genocide against the Tutsi.<\/p>\n

He has never known the murderer yet but, in sports, he learnt to forgive.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have forgiven everyone in general. I can\u2019t tell who exactly because we couldn\u2019t know whether the person who killed our relatives is alive or dead,\u201d he told Times Sport.<\/p>\n

You would wonder why he decided to forgive the person who never came to ask for forgiveness but Mukunzi insists that he had various reasons to do so.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you compare the time two children couldn\u2019t study in the same class because of who they were to the present where they can study together and share everything, you realize that it was necessary to forgive,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we did was to forgive that person because if our country had people who weren\u2019t ready to forgive, it wouldn\u2019t be where it is now, especially in terms of the rebuilding process,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

To him, not forgiving always keeps you thinking negatively which affects your personal development.<\/p>\n

Mukunzi is regarded as one of the most successful athletes that Rwanda has produced.<\/p>\n

He enjoyed a stellar volleyball career at club and national team levels. He played for continental clubs like Libyan side Tarsana, Algerian side, Blida Club, Al Arabi Sports Club in Qatar, and Bulgarian first division side VC Marek Union-Ivkoni.<\/p>\n

The veteran agrees that sports has played a big role in reuniting and reconciling Rwandans and it remains the same tool to bring Rwandans together after the tragic days of the Genocide that cost over a million lives in just 100 days.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must work together to ensure that no one is left behind in sporting activities – especially youth, older persons and other marginalized groups.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through sports, he says the country can be assured to have a united community that share the same values free of divisionism, ethnicity and Genocide ideology.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe world of sport, including athletes, has an important role to play to set an example, especially for young people. Our mission, beyond sharing our values and our working methodology, is really about teaching them that they belong; giving them a sense of belonging,\u201d the APR left attacker noted.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Rwanda<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Rwanda. Former national volleyball captain Christophe Gasarasi Mukunzi recalls that volleyball has helped him to forgive \u2018everyone who played a role\u2019 in killing his loved ones. Mukunzi was only six when the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi occurred. His father, Mathias Gasarasi, was killed during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. Yet 29 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":39767,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,18,772],"tags":[760,763,758],"class_list":["post-39768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","category-to-homepage","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-rwanda","tag-rwanda"],"yoast_head":"\nKwibuka 29: How volleyball helped Mukunzi to forgive - Rwanda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Former national volleyball captain Christophe Gasarasi Mukunzi recalls that volleyball has helped him to forgive \u2018everyo ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/kwibuka-29-how-volleyball-helped-mukunzi-to-forgive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kwibuka 29: How volleyball helped Mukunzi to forgive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Former national volleyball captain Christophe Gasarasi Mukunzi recalls that volleyball has helped him to forgive \u2018everyo ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/kwibuka-29-how-volleyball-helped-mukunzi-to-forgive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rwanda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-04-13T17:12:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-04-13T19:02:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1681389783.88.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"579\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/kwibuka-29-how-volleyball-helped-mukunzi-to-forgive#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/kwibuka-29-how-volleyball-helped-mukunzi-to-forgive\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Kwibuka 29: How volleyball helped Mukunzi to forgive\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-04-13T17:12:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-13T19:02:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/kwibuka-29-how-volleyball-helped-mukunzi-to-forgive\"},\"wordCount\":640,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/kwibuka-29-how-volleyball-helped-mukunzi-to-forgive#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1681389783.88.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Rwanda\",\"Rwanda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Sport\",\"to-homepage\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/kwibuka-29-how-volleyball-helped-mukunzi-to-forgive#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/kwibuka-29-how-volleyball-helped-mukunzi-to-forgive\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/kwibuka-29-how-volleyball-helped-mukunzi-to-forgive\",\"name\":\"Kwibuka 29: How volleyball helped Mukunzi to forgive - 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