Our Story – RUCARwanda.com

Ruhinga Umucyo: Journey from Dark to Light

by Elsie Hitimana

In Kinyarwanda, the word Umucyo means light. My story, along with my family who perished in the genocide, left me with an understanding of the word darkness, and then Great light.

In 1994 over the course of 100 days, my loved ones, along with a million others, were killed in the Genocide against the Tutsis. Every year during the Genocide memorial period, we Tutsis seek to find the remains of our loved ones, wishing to bury them properly like humans beings. We seek to understand what happened to them, wishing to know their last thoughts and words. But what we seek cannot be found without our neighbours. Our neighbours who were involved in hunting down, rooting out and abusing our loved ones until they died.

It is only in understanding how life continues that we want to reconcile with our neighbours. The understanding that life won’t stop and wait for you to have your rights. Life will not stop children being born in confusion of life itself. The understanding of what the future holds for two people that have to face each other every morning. So we remember our loved ones, but also those in our community who are the majority, those who look at us and you can guess their wishes: please forgive me, here I am ashamed, I don’t know how I can help you, but this truth I now know – they were innocent.

So we can read their hearts in positive ways or negative ways, there is a choice to make if you want true reconciliation for a better future. There is a belief also of embracing your suffering, and of embracing other people’s suffering because in life, and in death, everyone suffers. Then comes the dream; that people can go beyond the hurt that they have suffered, and have caused, if they only forgive each other. I believe forgiveness is a power given to everyone who is living. I believe the power of forgiveness is superhuman to keep giving as life hurts, and I believe that Peace is created in that power.

In my weakness and exhaustion I said 'Lord I want to give you back right of judgment and make you the the judge, for my people, they are yours and my life is yours. And I clearly heard Him say 'forgive them because they did not know what they did, but Me, I know, and they are mine too, I know them all, and I love them'.

‘I forgive you’ are words that have been a shortcut to my freedom. This forgiveness was given to me from the Creator of human kind, because He knew that it would create light in darkness. In my weakness and exhaustion I said ‘Lord I want to give you back right of judgment and make you the judge, for my people, they are yours and my life is yours. And I clearly heard Him say ‘forgive them because they did not know what they did, but Me, I know, and they are Mine too, I know them all, and I love them’.

I decide that I would forgive my Ruhinga Village neighbours for the crimes they had done to my family and my people, and asked for the right to meet with them and their children once a month so that I could be involved in teaching them about who God is, about His unconditional love and His plans of good for us.

It has been on my heart for a long time to provide good education for the children in my home village. To have education starting at an early age is an important key to ending the darkness of ignorance and intolerance. Education will provide a continuing light that will change what has previously been impossible because of lack of knowledge. In April 2014, I took the opportunity to ask parents if they would want to start a preschool for the small kids as it is a 2 hour walk to the nearest school, and they jumped at the idea. Within a week there were 150 kids between age 3 and 6 years old meeting together in the village church.

In 2019 we purchased land in the village to build a K-12 school so that students will no longer have to walk hours each day to receive an education. With the help of our partners, we will purchase materials and pay local villagers good wages to build our new school.

Thank you for helping me bring light, ‘Umucyo’, to our neighbours. I know it will happen at this time, in this place, with me and you.