Rwandan Communicator to visit NZ

Eight years after the tragedy of genocide that erupted in Rwanda, survivors are on the road to recovery. Helping in that recovery is World Vision Advocacy and Communications Manager, Nathan Gastura-Kamusiime, visiting New Zealand next week.

When the 100-day killing spree began, in April 1994, Mr Gastura-Kamusiime fled Rawanda with his family and grew up in exile in Uganda. As an adult, and having lost many family members in Rwanda, he returned to a country trying to cope with the trauma of genocide. He now leads World Vision Rwanda’s Christian Witness, Advocacy and Communications Departments and most of his work involves counselling genocide survivors.

One million people were killed in what has been termed ‘the fastest, most efficient killing spree of the twentieth century’. Over 30,000 children were left homeless orphans.

Now Rwandan prisons are congested with over one hundred thousand suspects of genocide, and the country is embarking on a new justice process, ‘Gacaca’, a traditional court that will allow communities to try the suspects.

“The idea of this system is to release suspects to their own villages, to testify for themselves for the alleged crimes committed,” says Mr Gastura-Kamusiime. “The prisoners themselves pleaded with Government to give them an opportunity to speak out.”

World Vision Rwanda is strongly involved in the peace-building and reconciliation efforts, and has a well-established psychosocial centre in the most severely-affected area, which it runs in collaboration with the Ministry of Health. This will be used for counselling at the time of Gacaca.

* New Zealanders donated $2 million to World Vision’s Rwanda appeal in 1994