REPORTING. Genocide in Rwanda:
Cairo: Hani Kamal El-Din
Rwanda commemorates from Sunday April 7 for 100 days the genocide perpetrated against the Tutsis in 1994. 100 days of mourning, like the 100 days during which nearly a million people were massacred throughout the country.
Thirty years later, the trauma is abysmal among survivors of the killings, post-traumatic stress, depressive disorders… but also among young people born after the genocide. Three out of five residents are under 25 years old.
At 21, Kenny has not experienced the atrocities perpetrated against the Tutsis 30 years ago and yet they haunt him. “I am shocked, speechless”, says the student during the commemorations, in the stands of a downtown basketball court. He lost his grandmother, an uncle and several friends of his parents. He often breaks down. “Sometimes I cry, sometimes I feel bad, I try to fight these feelings, to be strong, because the little ones after me are counting on me.”
Frankly, Amanda describes having completely plunged into depression. “It was at the age of 16 that my mental health problems started, during Covid it was the worst time, it was only recently that I came out of it, she says. At university, it was liters and liters of alcohol, marijuana. Without it, I couldn’t go to class or fall asleep. It’s like there’s a dark cloud hanging over me all the time.”
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