On the 3rd of April 2018, Never Again Rwanda hosted a national conference with an aim to establish a platform for the Rwandan youth and other key stakeholders to discuss and provide input into the national policy and practice for commemoration of the 1994 Genocide against Tutsis.
The conference brought together over 200 participants, comprising of representatives from CSO’s and International agencies, as well as different dignitaries from government institutions and experts in psychological trauma.
The conference was guided under the theme; Remember, Unite and Renew: Empowering post-genocide generation to overcome intergenerational trauma.
Opening the conference, Executive Director of Never Again Rwanda, Dr. Joseph Ryarasa Nkurunziza, reiterated the rationale on focusing on intergenerational trauma.
“Even if some of the youth we have today didn’t experience the dark past of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, our interventions in the societal healing program have shown that they are the most affected by its negative impact, evidence of this is inter-generational trauma.
Young Rwandans have the zeal to understand the genocide, we need to tell them the truth that is constructive, and our youth need to embrace our history in a constructive manner.”
Other opening remarks came from the Coordinator of Civil Peace service at GIZ, Mr. Hans Bretschneider, who commended the youth conference as an enabler for the post-genocide generation to fight trauma. He appreciated Never Again Rwanda and government agencies for their relentless effort in enhancing unity and reconciliation and building sustainable peace.
The Guest of Honor at the conference, Rwanda’s Minister of Youth Rosemary Mbabazi, in her remarks referred to the key pillars of Rwanda’s social, political and economic transformation mentioned by H.E President Paul Kagame; Unity, thinking big, and being accountable. She referred to these as the key drivers of prosperity that youth need to keep in mind as they look to lead the country into the next generation.
She also pledged the full support of the Rwandan Government behind the youth’s focus on ensuring we have a wealthy nation that can deal with the consequences of inter-generational trauma.
“We must continue to support individuals who have undergone different traumatic events. As a representative of Government here present, we pledge to continue to support the youth in this, in order to have a wealthy nation.”
The expert panel consisted of Dr. Darius Gishoma, Prof. Vincent Sezibera, Mr. Jean Ruzindana, and Mr. Nicolas Habarugira, experts in the field of clinical psychology and mental health.
Dr. Darius Gishoma an expert in clinical psychology, and Lecturer at the University of Rwanda, mentioned evidence that pointed towards youth demonstrating symptoms and signs of inter-generational trauma. He noted that last year during the 23rd commemoration period individuals who were received by mental health, 18% of them were between the age bracket of 14-21 and 1.5% were between 14 years old, numbers that stood out as being out of the ordinary.
Prof. Vincent Sezibera, Head of the Department of Clinical Psychology at the University of Rwanda, made a poignant point in response. He noted that if trauma can be transmitted from the elder generation to the young one, he believes that resilience can also be transmitted, offering faith to some of the young generation that may be afflicted by inter-generational trauma.
The second panel of the conference consisted of two young Rwandans affiliated to some of NAR’s Spaces for Peace. These spaces for peace are small dialogue groups in which members discuss aspects of what may be a traumatic past in order to begin a journey towards healing wounds.
The female youth panelist shared her experience on her journey to healing. She attested to the fact that she had also heard stories from her parents about the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi and that those stories had negatively affected her.
“When Genocide occurred, my parents were abroad, but the Rwandan history affected them because their relatives changed their names as a way to have access to education.
Even if we can’t determine our history, we can determine the history of our children to make sure they will never face the same tragic story as we experienced. We should learn from our past mistakes and avoid disappointing our country’s expectations in us.”
After two panels consisting of experts and youth testimonies, participants broke into groups in order to engage in a ‘group discussions’. This exercise allowed the majority youth participants to discuss in small groups against a set of questions relating to inter-generational trauma. Participants were asked how they understand trauma in the Rwandan context, and also whether they do in fact believe that trauma is something that can be transmitted.
The youth presented some recommendations towards dealing with the consequences of inter-generational trauma.
- There is a need for immediate assistance to parents who have traumatic experiences to help them discover their identities and be able to tell their own stories.
- Parents should be careful on how and when to tell the experiences to their children in to not harm them.
- There is a need to establish dialogue spaces between young people and older generation to be help each other in healing journey.
- Analytics on the level of traumatic memories among youth must be undertaken.
In closing the conference on inter-generational trauma, Hannah Doller, representing the Swedish Embassy in Rwanda took time to appreciate the contribution of the youth to this conference, and pledged continued support towards activities that incorporate the youth into sustainable peace-building efforts.
Dr. Joseph Ryarasa Nkurunziza, the Executive Director of Never Again Rwanda, stated that the visible zeal of the youth to understand their history will provide a firm foundation for championing sustainable peace. He also took time to appreciate the support of the Government of Rwanda, and also NAR’s various partners that continue to show support for building lasting peace in Rwanda.