Immaculee Musaniwawo

I was born on July 2, 1981 in Gitarama. Before the genocide, I lived with my family. We were five children, a mother and a father. I had a maternal aunt, cousins and a large extended family.

Both of my parents dropped out of school after primary school. After primary school, my father worked as an architect and my mother stayed home and took care of the children. I was happy and healthy as a child, and have very fond memories from my childhood. I enjoyed spending time with my grandparents. I tried to help with household work, bringing water from the spring, cleaning the house, and taking care of the younger ones. We also had goats, cows, roosters and chickens. I had to gather food for the domestic animals.

I liked to play soccer and sing with my friends. We also played volleyball. We used to play a game where we had many pebbles and stones and we threw them into a hole. We also enjoyed playing with batons attached to silky ribbons.

When the genocide started, I was 13 years old, my brothers were 17, 16 and 15 years old, and my sister was 8 years old. My mother was pregnant at the time. During the genocide, my family split up, running in different directions. I ran away to find my friends and protect myself against the enemies. I found another family farther away (also in Gitarama) who protected me during the rest of the genocide. After the genocide, I returned home to find out what had happened. I discovered that everyone in my family had been killed. The majority of my friends had also been killed, but fortunately, I found a few survivors.

After the genocide, I was taken in by neighbors who supported me through primary school. I passed my primary school exams and entered secondary school. However, when I started the first year of secondary school, the family I was living with said they could no longer take care of me. During my vacation, I visited the magistrate of my district in Gitarama. I asked him to help me find a new place to live. The district magistrate provided me with a scholarship for secondary school because I was an orphan of the genocide. He also let me live in a house belonging to the district. I lived with other orphans who were sponsored by FARG (a government scholarship for genocide survivors.)

Because I lived close to my family's land, I started to cultivate it. Although our house had been destroyed, the fields were still there. Neighbors took care of them during the genocide and gave them to me afterwards. With the help of my neighbors, I grew potatoes, maize and other crops.

In secondary school, my favorite subjects were languages, particularly French and English. I realized that I would need to learn English if I wanted to communicate with other people. I also liked secretarial practice, which was my concentration in secondary school. I did not have a choice was about what I studied in secondary school; secretarial practice was the only option

I prayed to God to help me with my studies and in my life in general. I studied very hard in secondary school and I succeeded and passed. I had some problems during that time but I had a lot of patience and recognized the importance of school. I wanted to become a secretary in an office - the district office, a government or school.

During secondary school, I always thought about continuing on to university. I knew that if I succeeded in school, I could lead a more fulfilling life, in which I could support others, contribute to society and make something of myself.

When I completed secondary school, I earned a FARG scholarship (government scholarship for genocide orphans) to continue my studies in university. My ambition changed from doing from secretarial work to studying sociology. I chose sociology because I want to contribute to society and help children who have encountered problems in life similar to my own. I would like to become a counselor to children with emotional and mental trauma. That way, I can make a difference in a society full of difficulties and complicated problems.

I began studying sociology at the Independent University of Kigali (ULK). However, FARG only paid for my tuition. I was unable to continue living in the house in Gitarama because it was too far from the university, and I could not afford pay for food, housing and school materials at the same time. My friends from Gisimba Memorial Center (GMC) who also attended ULK recommended that I apply for support from Orphans of Rwanda to help cover these other costs, and was very happy when they agreed to do so.

I am enjoying my studies very much. I like talking with graduates with sociology degrees and finding out about their professions. They work as professors and teachers of sociology and as practicing sociologists. Talking to them provides me with motivation and inspiration to keep studying.

The things that I care about the most in life are to live in peace, to pass my exams and accomplish my goals of working hard, getting a PhD and becoming a sociologist. Achieving all of this would bring me great joy!

In ten to twenty years, I hope that Rwanda will have much better technology than we do now. We need to have computers in all schools and teachers who can teach students about computers. I also hope that there will be many more students who are well versed in ICT. Other countries have ambitious visions for the year 2020 and the field of technology will be very competitive. I want Rwanda to be well positioned to compete with other countries at that time.