{"id":70485,"date":"2024-04-18T12:39:03","date_gmt":"2024-04-18T12:39:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/kwibuka-30-how-one-genocide-survivors-clever-act-saved-lives"},"modified":"2024-04-18T12:54:04","modified_gmt":"2024-04-18T12:54:04","slug":"kwibuka-30-how-one-genocide-survivors-clever-act-saved-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/kwibuka-30-how-one-genocide-survivors-clever-act-saved-lives","title":{"rendered":"Kwibuka 30: How one Genocide survivor\u2019s clever act saved lives"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Rwanda. <\/strong><\/span>As Rwanda commemorates the 30th anniversary of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi that claimed over one million lives in just 100 days, one survivor\u2019s tale of bravery and cleverness in saving lives comes to light.<\/p>\n

Fifty-three-year-old Jeanne d\u2019Arc Mukabucyana, a mother of four living in Kimisagara Sector, Nyarugenge District, demonstrated unwavering resolve and courage during the country\u2019s darkest period. With just a needle and pen ink, she altered identity classifications, ultimately saving over 10 lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs one ethnic group was being targeted and killed, I utilised skills learned from a friend. Using a needle and pen ink, I altered the ethnic identification from Tutsi to Hutu, thus protecting a few individuals who managed to get to me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Mukabucyana, 23 years old at the time, with two young children, couldn\u2019t leave her location. Instead, she assisted all her neighbours in relocating to safer areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy babies and my facial features were a big challenge at the time as anyone could easily tell that I was of Tutsi ethnicity, this led to difficulties in relocating, and often resulted in further complications whenever I attempted to move. Eventually, I decided to stay home and be killed from there with my family, but that\u2019s where I survived,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

After some of her neighbours were killed, all six orphaned children went to Mukabucyana\u2019s small house. Realising it wasn\u2019t safe to have many people, she decided to change the ethnicity on their identity cards.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first take on my husband\u2019s ID wasn\u2019t successful, and then my next trial on one of the children was. I would alter the letters in Tutsi, or change the names, and this helped them cross some of roadblocks in the country (Tutsi weren\u2019t allowed to go through),\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\u201cI helped even more of my neighbours after seeing that my tactic was working.\u201d<\/p>\n

A survivor\u2019s recollection<\/p>\n

Daniel Nshimiyumuremyi, a 44-year-old resident of Kimisagara, is one of the survivors who received assistance from Mukabucyana. He shared his story after she changed his ID ethnicity classification.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter my ID was changed I was able to cross a couple of the borders, which wasn\u2019t an easy thing to do because some of the people well knew that my parents were of Tutsi ethnicity which automatically made me a Tutsi,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey would delay me asking questions regarding how I got the ID description of a Hutu, I would come up with the excuse of my father being a Hutu and saying that it is how I got my ID.\u201d<\/p>\n

In order to save people Jeanne d\u2019Arc Mukabucyana used just a needle and pen ink to alter identity classifications. She saved over 10 lives during the Genocide.<\/p>\n

He said that after a lot of struggles, running from shootings, he later made it to Sainte Famille Hotel where his life was saved.<\/p>\n

Beating the odds<\/p>\n

Mukabucyana said that she later survived from her own home as many of the people who went there to kill her knew her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was once taken by Interahamwe to be killed with my family, we then met Hakizimana who was a family friend and he told the group to leave us, as we were going to die anyway,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe later showed us a safer path to take that didn\u2019t have Interahamwe roadblocks, so we could make it back home safely.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a long period of relying on water for the most part from her Hutu neighbours, she received positive news that RPF-Inkotanyi was rescuing people and reclaiming territories, including Sainte Famille where she and her family would later go to seek refuge.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy neighbours would sometimes give us water and firewood, or even potatoes, which was rare, but we lived like that until we heard that Inkotanyi was rescuing people. And so we found our way to Sainte Famille as we feared that anytime Interahamwe would come and kill us. We later made it back home when it was safer,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Mukabucyana\u2019s husband later got a job from a businessman who would import second-hand shoes for sale, and in 2002, he (her husband) brought her into the business to sell them in mini-markets.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor a shoe priced at Rwf 5,000, I aimed for a Rwf 2,000 profit. Over time, I honed my business skills and eventually secured a bank loan to import my merchandise. This venture became my primary income source, as the government helped me cover my children’s school fees,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Mukabucyana and her husband had managed to construct a home and improve their living standards until the prohibition of second-hand products in Rwanda. Their adult children began to support the family, along with a monthly allowance received from the Genocide Survivors Support and Assistance Fund (FARG) \u2014 an organisation in Rwanda that assists survivors of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.<\/p>\n

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

Africa-Press – Rwanda. As Rwanda commemorates the 30th anniversary of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi that claimed over one million lives in just 100 days, one survivor\u2019s tale of bravery and cleverness in saving lives comes to light. Fifty-three-year-old Jeanne d\u2019Arc Mukabucyana, a mother of four living in Kimisagara Sector, Nyarugenge District, demonstrated unwavering […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":70483,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,30],"tags":[4293,760,763,5555,5597,5598,5532,758,2750],"class_list":["post-70485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","tag-1994-genocide-against-the-tutsi","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-rwanda","tag-commemoration","tag-farg","tag-jeanne-darc-mukabucyana","tag-kwibuka-30","tag-rwanda","tag-survivors"],"yoast_head":"\nKwibuka 30: How one Genocide survivor\u2019s clever act saved lives - Rwanda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As Rwanda commemorates the 30th anniversary of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi that claimed over one million lives i ...\" \/>\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\/all-news\/kwibuka-30-how-one-genocide-survivors-clever-act-saved-lives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kwibuka 30: How one Genocide survivor\u2019s clever act saved lives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As Rwanda commemorates the 30th anniversary of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi that claimed over one million lives i ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/kwibuka-30-how-one-genocide-survivors-clever-act-saved-lives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rwanda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-04-18T12:39:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-04-18T12:54:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2024\/04\/sm_1713432201.64974.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"755\" \/>\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=\"4 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\/all-news\/kwibuka-30-how-one-genocide-survivors-clever-act-saved-lives#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/kwibuka-30-how-one-genocide-survivors-clever-act-saved-lives\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Kwibuka 30: How one Genocide survivor\u2019s clever act saved lives\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-04-18T12:39:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-04-18T12:54:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/kwibuka-30-how-one-genocide-survivors-clever-act-saved-lives\"},\"wordCount\":830,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/kwibuka-30-how-one-genocide-survivors-clever-act-saved-lives#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2024\/04\/sm_1713432201.64974.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"1994 Genocide against the Tutsi\",\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Rwanda\",\"Commemoration\",\"FARG\",\"Jeanne dArc Mukabucyana\",\"Kwibuka 30\",\"Rwanda\",\"survivors\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Community\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/kwibuka-30-how-one-genocide-survivors-clever-act-saved-lives#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/kwibuka-30-how-one-genocide-survivors-clever-act-saved-lives\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/kwibuka-30-how-one-genocide-survivors-clever-act-saved-lives\",\"name\":\"Kwibuka 30: How one Genocide survivor\u2019s clever act saved lives - 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