Remembering the Rwandan genocide 30 years later
A group of Calgarians gathered Saturday for a memorial event hosted by the Rwandan Canadian Society of Calgary to mark the 30th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide.
In 1994, 800,000 Rwandans, mostly Tutsis and moderate Hutus, were killed by militia groups dominated by Hutus and members of the Rwandan army.
Saturday’s event involved survivors who relocated to other parts of the world after the genocide, who have spent the ensuing three decades trying to recover from the trauma and grief of that event.
Clementine Msengi, the author of Spared: Escaping Genocide in Rwanda and Finding a Home in America, was the keynote speaker.
“It is very difficult for me to comprehend or even explain, the suffering is so deep, and it goes beyond just surviving,” said Msengi. “Because you're there, and then all the sudden you are in hiding.
“But I can say," she added, "that I've been able to rebuild by God's grace and the good people in my life. So I'm here today, sharing that story.”
Calgarians attend memorial event marking 30th anniversary of Rwandan massacre on April 13, 2024 at Mount Royal University.
Msengi is now a visiting professor at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas.
She was asked what the world can learn from what happened in Rwanda 30 years ago.
“I hope by learning how this can be (that) has had such bad consequences, we can find a way to live in peace and continue to promote peace and love,” she said.
“Kindness goes a long way.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Parents of infant who died in wrong-way crash on Ontario's Hwy. 401 were in same vehicle
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has released new details about a wrong-way collision in Whitby on Monday night that claimed the lives of four people.
Three Quebec men from same family father hundreds of children
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
B.C. mayor stripped of budget, barred from committees over Indigenous residential schools book
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
OPP's mandatory alcohol screening during traffic stops 'not acceptable': CCLA
A spike in impaired driving-related collisions has caused Ontario’s provincial police to begin enforcing mandatory alcohol screening (MAS) at all traffic stops in the Greater Toronto Area -- a move one civil rights group says is ‘not acceptable.’
Maple Leafs down Bruins 2-1 to force Game 7
William Nylander scored twice and Joseph Woll made 22 saves as the Toronto Maple Leafs downed the Boston Bruins 2-1 on Thursday to force Game 7 in their first-round series.
Jurors in Trump hush money trial hear recording of pivotal call on plan to buy affair story
Jurors in the hush money trial of Donald Trump heard a recording Thursday of him discussing with his then-lawyer and personal fixer a plan to purchase the silence of a Playboy model who has said she had an affair with the former president.
Southern Alberta store broken into by burly black bear
Staff at a small southern Alberta office supply store were shocked to find someone had broken into the business last week, but they were even more confused when they discovered the culprit was a bear.
Captain sentenced to 4 years for criminal negligence in fiery deaths of 34 aboard scuba boat
A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a scuba dive boat captain to four years in custody and three years supervised release for criminal negligence after 34 people died in a fire aboard the vessel.
New scam targets Canada Carbon Rebate recipients
Fake text message and email campaigns trying to get money and information out of unsuspecting Canadian taxpayers have started circulating, just months after the federal government rebranded the carbon tax rebate the Canada Carbon Rebate.