Rwanda Genocide survivor: How I learnt to forgive after all my family was slaughtered
(Vatican Radio) In his remarks following the Angelus, Pope Francis also noted the
20th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide. After assuring the people of
Rwanda of his spiritual closeness to them, he invoked “upon the dear Rwandan nation
maternal protection of Our Lady of Kibeho,” before leading the crowds in the recitation
of the Rosary for them.
The Rwandan genocide is one of the darkest chapters
in recent human history. Over the course of a 100 day period in 1994, beginning on
April 6th, more than 800,000 Rwandans were killed, most of them ethnic Tutsis.
Annonciata
Kaligirwa is a Rwandan Catholic whose parents and all her siblings (6 brothers and
one sister) were slaughtered during the genocide. She now works in Kigali for the
National Peace and Justice Commission of the Catholic Church in Rwanda and spoke to
Susy Hodges about the genocide and how she learnt to forgive the perpetrators and
help other survivors of the genocide to do the same.
Listen to the interview
with Rwandan genocide survivor Annonciata Kaligirwa:
The oldest
of 8 children, Annonciata was just 17 when the genocide was unleashed during which
her entire family was slaughtered. She says the only reason she survived was because
her father sent her away from their home village to another family in a nearby area
for protection just days before the killings began. After the genocide, she said
she was taken in and given support by relatives, including aunts and other people
that she knew. Asked how easy it was for her to learn to forgive the murderers of
her parents and siblings, Annonciata said prayer and her Catholic faith played a very
important role in her personal forgiveness and reconciliation process. She also described
how in her job for the Kigali Catholic archdiocese she meets in the local community
with both perpetrators and survivors of the genocide and this experience too helped
her on the path towards forgiveness.