Freddy Mutanguha, Director, Kigali Memorial Centre, on the power of community, compassion and cooperation in creating the means for everyone to hand-in-hand stop atrocity everywhere.
"I am Freddy Mutanguha, and I am a survivor of genocide that happened in this country.
I was 18 years old during genocide and I lost my parents and my 4 sisters during genocide.
After genocide we were asking ourselves, “Can we go back home?” The house doesn’t exist anymore, “Can we go back home?” The region was no survivors, no parents, no one to take care of you. It was a very big challenge and we kept asking ourselves this questions.
The problem of survivors should not be our problem, should not be a Rwandan problem, should not be actually African problem--it should be the problem for humanity--all the humanity in the world.
When genocide was happening in Rwanda the Darfuris, people in Darfur, were not expecting to die in genocide. Before 1920 or 1930s the Rwandan people did not know that in 1994 genocide would happen, and that one million people could die in 100 days.
That means that we never know but it can happen everywhere, so it is our problem, all of us are human beings. It can happen in America, it can happen everywhere, it can happen in Burundi and India, everywhere. So we need to work hand by hand and make sure that this atrocity is stopped everywhere.
You come as Jane Wells. If I say I am a survivor you are also a survivor because they were targeting human beings and you are a human being. Thank you."
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