Coexist: A Documentary

Stories of the Genocide: Agnes

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Agnes Mushimiyimana admits her relationship with REACH got off to a rocky start. She says she didn’t know the program coordinators were inviting not only wives of genocide victims, but the wives of the perpetrators too. Seeing her enemies wasn’t easy. “When I saw those wives I felt like beating them…I thought they’re like the Interahamwe.”

Agnes had every reason to be angry. Genocidal militias killed her husband and tortured her with the sight of his mutilated body parts. She fled from home to home seeking refuge. Finally, they found her, beat her and raped her. Even after the RPF arrived to end the genocide in her village, she suffered violence from the families of the people who killed her family. It seemed the cycle of bloodshed would go on indefinitely. She was hopeless. “I was traumatized, I had mental problems, I even stayed in the hospital for crazy people for 3 months. Because I had the chance to get out of there, I feel like I don’t want to go back there.”

Transformational Experience

When REACH arrived, Agnes says everything changed. “They put us in contact with those people I considered my enemies. But, because of the teaching we had, especially those based on the word of God, so many things have helped to reconstruct me.” Agnes found the courage to go to Gacaca court and tell her story. The court ruled that the people who murdered her family must give back her property and livestock. At first, this made some of them retaliate. But, eventually, Agnes says the spirit of reconciliation spread. “They asked for forgiveness and I forgave them. But to be able to give them forgiveness is because of the strength I got from REACH.”

Agnes poses with the man who destroyed her home during the Genocide. They are now friends.

Agnes believes all Rwandans are now anti-genocide, or soon will be. She says everyone lost during those 100 days in 1994, and children are growing up orphans either because their parents are in jail or because they were killed. She believes this means the next generation of Rwandans will know the true cost of civil war. “So every Rwandan, if they think about it, they can have the strength to build the country.”

Agnes now focuses her energy on the future. She takes care of the war orphans in her community. “Now because of expressing what happened to me that has made me strong and given me the strength to live and help myself. Because life continues, there is no other alternative.”

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See more photos of Agnes in the gallery