{"id":99247,"date":"2025-04-12T18:17:56","date_gmt":"2025-04-12T18:17:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/april-12-is-our-birthday-genocide-survivor-narrates-journey-from-horror-to-hope-in-nyanza-kicukiro"},"modified":"2025-04-12T18:17:56","modified_gmt":"2025-04-12T18:17:56","slug":"april-12-is-our-birthday-genocide-survivor-narrates-journey-from-horror-to-hope-in-nyanza-kicukiro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/april-12-is-our-birthday-genocide-survivor-narrates-journey-from-horror-to-hope-in-nyanza-kicukiro","title":{"rendered":"\u2018April 12 is our birthday\u2019, genocide survivor narrates journey from horror to hope in Nyanza-Kicukiro"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Rwanda. <\/strong><\/span>Venuste Karasira, 73, carries memories from the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi that still hurt him, but like other survivors, he chooses to live. Born in Kabagari Sector, in Ruhango District, Karasira was in his hometown, on April 6, 1994, helping his mother. That evening, he returned to his home in Kigali\u2019s Kicukiro District\u2014unaware that his life was about to change forever.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was born in Kabagari, but we lived in Niboye-Kicukiro. That evening, I, as was habit, returned home early,\u201d he recalled. \u201cWe were used to the tension, but that night, it reached another level.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since 1990, Karasira\u2019s family had abandoned their bedrooms for the corridor, fearing night attacks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were bombed through our windows several times. So, we made a sleeping schedule\u2014my wife would rest early, and I\u2019d stay up till midnight or 1 a.m., and then switch with her.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, on the night of April 6, Karasira felt unusually exhausted.<\/p>\n

He asked his wife if he could go to bed early, promising he would soon be up and let her sleep. A hail of bullets and the sound of chaos outside broke that promise.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was different that night,\u201d he said. \u201cI turned on the radio and learned that President Habyarimana\u2019s plane had crashed. I told my wife, and she said, \u2018Turashize [we are finished].\u2019 I didn\u2019t say much more, but that one word captured everything I felt.\u201d<\/p>\n

That night, sleep was impossible. Karasira stayed glued to the radio. The following day, April 7, the tension escalated. While listening to the news, he overheard Interahamwe militiamen shouting outside: \u201cLet\u2019s go to Karasira\u2019s place. He\u2019s a cockroach.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even though they were calling for his death, they were still afraid of him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went out, and they fled. I went back inside and told my wife and children to leave everything. We had to flee immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n

Karasira knew that Belgian UN peacekeepers were stationed at the ETO technical school in Kicukiro. Though it was just 800 meters from his house, it took him and his family over two hours to get there.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was raining,\u201d he said. \u201cThat rain saved us. It slowed the killers down and allowed us to hide between banana trees before moving again.\u201d<\/p>\n

On April 8, they finally arrived at ETO, which was already overcrowded with hundreds other families seeking protection. \u201cWe thought it would just be for a short time. We believed that, at least at first.\u201d<\/p>\n

As conditions worsened, the community at ETO organized themselves. Committees were formed, young men dug makeshift toilets, and a group was assigned to speak with the Belgian troops. Karasira was among the latter. He vividly remembers what transpired on April 10, something many people might not know.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe begged the soldiers to contact Inkotanyi (RPF),\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019d heard that they had reached Remera. We knew they could save us. However, the soldiers laughed and said, \u2018That\u2019s not why we are here.\u2019 That\u2019s when we knew\u2014we were truly on our own.\u201d<\/p>\n

The final betrayal came on April 11.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt noon, we saw the Belgian troops packing up their things,\u201d he said. \u201cBefore that, Colonel Rusatira and Kicukiro\u2019s mayor, Evariste Gasamagera\u2014someone I had gone to school with, in Byimana, before I was expelled in 1973\u2014had come. When we asked the soldiers what they were doing there, they told us gendarmes would protect us. But we had fled from those very same gendarmes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some people tried to block the Belgian soldiers from leaving by laying down in front of their trucks. The Belgians fired warning shots and drove off. A French vehicle assisted in their exit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat moment was like someone turning off the lights,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Interahamwe and soldiers came almost immediately. They rounded us up and forced us to march, passing my burning house along the way. My child asked why our home was on fire.\u201d<\/p>\n

The refugees were taken to the Sonatube area of Kicukiro where the killers held a meeting. A short while later, they were marched again to Nyanza-Kicukiro.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey ordered anyone with a Hutu ID to step forward. One person did, but this person looked like a Tutsi, and was killed on the spot,\u201d Karasira recalled.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s when we knew death was certain. One of my friends asked if I was ready for death. I told him, \u2018No. I\u2019m scared.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

What followed was a massacre Karasira struggles to describe.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey started \u2018the work\u2019\u2014that\u2019s what they called the killing. I will not say how they did it. God will judge them,\u201d he said. \u201cBut many people were killed. Some of us survived with wounds, amputations… It\u2019s hard to say how we made it out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Karasira was severely injured, his arm broken. He survived by pretending to be dead\u2014lying under bodies until the killers left.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey thought I wasn\u2019t breathing,\u201d he said. \u201cThe night saved us. Interahamwe left, afraid that Inkotanyi might attack in the dark.\u201d<\/p>\n

He remembers women begging the killers to \u201cfinish them off\u201d to escape their pain. \u201cThere was a pool of blood. Those of us who survived were covered in it. Maybe that\u2019s what saved us, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

On April 12, RPF\/A forces arrived.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey [RPF\/A rebels] were on their way to Rebero. They found us, treated our wounds, and took us with them. That\u2019s the day we came back to life.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Karasira, and other survivors of the Nyanza-Kicukiro massacre, April 12 is more than just a date.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is our birthday,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery year, we celebrate life on that day. This year marks our 31st birthday. You\u2019re all invited.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though his home was burned, Karasira rebuilt and still lives there today.<\/p>\n

He speaks with strength but also with the weight of distressing memories.<\/p>\n

The commemoration event started from former ETO Kicukiro, where participants engage in a Walk to Remember. Courtesy<\/p>\n

Thousands of Kigali residents turned up to remember the victims of the Genocide that were killed on April 11 at Nyanza-Kicukiro.<\/p>\n

Volunteers help a trauma victim during the commemoration at Nyanza-Kicukiro.\r\n