In a Rwandan reconciliation village, collaborative efforts among women give hope for unity

Genocide survivor Jeanette Nyirabashyitsi, 45, left a Tutsi, greets Frederick Kazigwemo, a Hutu who was jailed for nine years for genocide-related crimes in the reconciliation village of Mbyo, in Nyamata, Rwanda Friday, April 5, 2024. Thirty years after the genocide, the country has fourteen"reconciliation villages" where convicted perpetrators who have been released from prison after publicly apologizing for their crimes live side by side with genocide survivors.

As for Mukabyagaju, she was a 16-year-old temporarily staying in the southern province of Muhanga while her parents lived in Kigali. When she couldn’t shelter at the nearest Catholic parish, she hid in a latrine for two months, without anything to eat and drinking from trenches, until she was rescued by Tutsi rebels who stopped the genocide.

“There’s a model we have here which we call practical reconciliation,” said Christian Bizimana, a program coordinator with Prison Fellowship Rwanda. “Whenever they are weaving baskets, they can engage more, talk more, go into the details. We believe that by doing that ... forgiveness is deepened, unity is deepened.”

He said of the friendship between Nyirabashyitsi and Mukabyagaju: “It pleases my heart. It's something that I could have never imagined. ... It gives me hope what will happen in future."

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