My name is Anne-Marie and I am a survivor of the Rwandan genocide. I was born in 1967.
After the genocide I was determined to do anything for the sake of my son. We stayed at an orphanage for five months until we went back to the town where we used to live. I had to start all over again. Even today the sadness does not end. The thought that someone came, raped you, destroyed you and killed your child… It is an extreme strain on my heart that will never end.
Later I went to get my blood checked and was told that I was infected with HIV/AIDS. Afterwards I would look in the mirror and see myself already a skeleton, already dead. Ever since I found out I was ill I have never received any medication for my illness, not once.
I am still carrying death in me; not only the death that AIDS will bring. Others say they escaped from the sword, but the sword is still in my heart; and even in death I do not believe I will find rest.
Only my son gives me the strength to live. It is a miracle that I am still alive. If I can survive a few more years, he will be a little older, and maybe he will have a chance in life; maybe he will not become a street child.
(Since this interview was given Anne-Marie has started receiving anti-retroviral drugs through a program for widows and orphans at the Kigali Genocide Memorial Center in Rwanda.)
Thanks to the Aegis Trust for the above text, taken from an interview in 2004, and for facilitating our interview with Anne-Marie, which took place in 2006. Please contact us if you wish to view the transcript for this interview in its entirety.
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