Emmanuel Mungwarakarama
Street kids
Date: 20 january 2007
It is the sunset; it looks nice in Butare town. Workers, students and villagers are returning home from their places of work. Sendegeya, 14 struggles to find at least 100 francs. He can’t return home without a half kilo of maize to feed his aunt and his young sister.
The deterioration of values within the families and wider society has played a key part in creating children who are ‘lost’, lack role models and adult guidance. Break ups in the families (through divorce, parental abandonment, remarriage or polygamy and even genocide), as well as widespread sexual and commercial exploitation of children have also contributed to pushing many onto the streets.
Some children spend most of their time working in marketplaces or public spaces, but return home to their families at night.
Sendegeya lives with his aunt and his young sister, since his mother died in the genocide when Sendegeya was just one year old. He never knew his mum, the genocide occurred while he has only one year, after the death of his mum, the aunt decides to take care of him.
Alone, she couldn’t afford to feed the two children. She sent Sendegeya to the market place to look for food to feed his sister and even herself.
“I lost my mum during the genocide, although my aunt used to say she disappeared “ Sendegeya said. “And my dad is now in prison because he killed people.”
Malnutrition, which most children face, poor sanitation and limited resources contributed to worsen the situation.
“In Rwanda, genocide worsened the phenomenon of street children,” says Gilbert Ndahayo, a human rights activist. “The principle of right to life as referred to human rights charity is not compatible with the conditions in which these children live. No one cares about these endangered lives in the streets”
Children on the streets are the result of poverty, negligence or abuse within their family or household, and who lack adequate care and protection from parents, guardians or employers. They often come from broken family backgrounds (both poor and rich), and some have been rendered orphans by the genocide or HIV/AIDS. They are illiterate, and face daily humiliation, verbal abuse or stress that denigrates their sense of self-worth.
Hakizimana decided to go to the street because of lack of care in the family he was living.
“I have only my uncle who doesn’t consider me a human being,” he said.
“He would rather feed his dog instead of taking care of my sister with whom we survived the genocide.”
Many children are necessarily forced to find work in urban areas to supplement inadequate family incomes.
“I must find by all means some money to sustain my family,” says Sendegeya “My aunt will kill me if I return back home empty hands.”
For some of these children, the street is the closest thing to home - the place where they both work and live. They face a daily struggle to survive and secure food, money and a place to sleep. They have lost nearly all contact with their families, and live a high level of independence and determination.
Richard Muhire, 16, lives under the bridge in Kigali town and stays with a group of 6 children. They live a hard life.
“I don’t have anywhere else to stay, and I have lost everything,” he said. “My family died in the genocide, where do I have to go? Instead of being a burden to somebody, I preferred to stay here.
“I don’t pay the rent and I am free.”
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Gacaca trials in Butare
Emmanuel Mungwarakarama
17 January 2007
It’s 8:30 on Wednesday. Normally it’s working hours. Butare town is quiet and people are closing shops and offices. They almost are running out of time. They are late. In Butare town all activities are supposed to be suspended from 8:00 to 16:00. In every cell of Butare, people must attend gacaca activities
More than 1million Rwandans perished in the 1994. Orphans, victims and widowers are waiting for justice to be done and try the perpetrators. Prisons are full of suspected people, placing a huge burden on the normal court system.
It was therefore necessary to set up a kind of justice system, inspired by the traditional Rwandan system of settling disputes. This system requires the participation of every one to rebuild justice, because it is in that participatory manner that the crimes were publicly committed in the eyes of the population.
The law establishing the organization, competence and functioning of gacaca stipulates in that every Rwandan citizen has the duty to participate in the Gacaca court activities..
The process began in the country 15 January 2005 in 3 stages: data collection in 2 phases and an information validation stage. The trial phase began in April 2006. The total number of suspects by Gacaca is approximately 761 448, according to the official website by the gacaca courts national commission (www.inkiko-gacaca.gov.rw). It is recommended that by the end of 2007 all trials be completed.
By 9:06, committee of 9 persons of integrity with 3 women among them is sitting at the front of the room. The chairperson gives directives:
“No cell phone during the session, it must be ordered. Every one is free to give his point of view, ask a question or to contribute to what has been said,” he said. “You have to raise your hand and be given a word.”
The chairman calls upon the seven witnesses – 4 women and 3 men. Before they give their testimonies; each must take an oath in the name of God. The accused are seated in front of the audience, a guard is standing alongside the room with a gun. The number of attendants in the room is approximately 120.
Among them are teachers at the secondary schools, professors at the university, businesspersons, and peasants.
Some are concentrating on the proceedings, others are reading the newspapers, and even some are sleeping. It seems that the testimonies might not be interesting. Cell phones are ringing time to time.
Among witnesses, there is a sister by the names of Micheline Mukayibanda born in 1955 at Cyangugu, who served at the orphanage in Butare since 1990. Her testimony makes people shout in anger. The chairman and the committee ask many questions, but the sister has no sufficient and interesting answers, and people don’t believe her. After a short time while Michel Ndejuru is being interviewed, Micheline, the sister starts crying and goes out of the room, perhaps after remembering some details she omitted or forgot to give.
Michel, who was 16 at the time, participated actively in the killings, he said, and is accused of murdering 450 people. His father was killed during the genocide.
“I am really sorry to all what I did. I was a part of group who killed Claudine. I beg a pardon in front of you all and the entire Rwandan society,” he declared confidently.
He was arrested on May 3, 1995 and released from prison by the presidential instruction in 2006.
By mid-morning, the room is full of people, the number attending is double.
By noon all testimonies are finished and the accused have to defend themselves without a lawyer, which is the tradition in gacaca.
The trials must go on until 1600 without interruption, it is tiresome and people are annoyed by this. They start shouting, going out and back to their seats.
17 January 2007
It’s 8:30 on Wednesday. Normally it’s working hours. Butare town is quiet and people are closing shops and offices. They almost are running out of time. They are late. In Butare town all activities are supposed to be suspended from 8:00 to 16:00. In every cell of Butare, people must attend gacaca activities
More than 1million Rwandans perished in the 1994. Orphans, victims and widowers are waiting for justice to be done and try the perpetrators. Prisons are full of suspected people, placing a huge burden on the normal court system.
It was therefore necessary to set up a kind of justice system, inspired by the traditional Rwandan system of settling disputes. This system requires the participation of every one to rebuild justice, because it is in that participatory manner that the crimes were publicly committed in the eyes of the population.
The law establishing the organization, competence and functioning of gacaca stipulates in that every Rwandan citizen has the duty to participate in the Gacaca court activities..
The process began in the country 15 January 2005 in 3 stages: data collection in 2 phases and an information validation stage. The trial phase began in April 2006. The total number of suspects by Gacaca is approximately 761 448, according to the official website by the gacaca courts national commission (www.inkiko-gacaca.gov.rw). It is recommended that by the end of 2007 all trials be completed.
By 9:06, committee of 9 persons of integrity with 3 women among them is sitting at the front of the room. The chairperson gives directives:
“No cell phone during the session, it must be ordered. Every one is free to give his point of view, ask a question or to contribute to what has been said,” he said. “You have to raise your hand and be given a word.”
The chairman calls upon the seven witnesses – 4 women and 3 men. Before they give their testimonies; each must take an oath in the name of God. The accused are seated in front of the audience, a guard is standing alongside the room with a gun. The number of attendants in the room is approximately 120.
Among them are teachers at the secondary schools, professors at the university, businesspersons, and peasants.
Some are concentrating on the proceedings, others are reading the newspapers, and even some are sleeping. It seems that the testimonies might not be interesting. Cell phones are ringing time to time.
Among witnesses, there is a sister by the names of Micheline Mukayibanda born in 1955 at Cyangugu, who served at the orphanage in Butare since 1990. Her testimony makes people shout in anger. The chairman and the committee ask many questions, but the sister has no sufficient and interesting answers, and people don’t believe her. After a short time while Michel Ndejuru is being interviewed, Micheline, the sister starts crying and goes out of the room, perhaps after remembering some details she omitted or forgot to give.
Michel, who was 16 at the time, participated actively in the killings, he said, and is accused of murdering 450 people. His father was killed during the genocide.
“I am really sorry to all what I did. I was a part of group who killed Claudine. I beg a pardon in front of you all and the entire Rwandan society,” he declared confidently.
He was arrested on May 3, 1995 and released from prison by the presidential instruction in 2006.
By mid-morning, the room is full of people, the number attending is double.
By noon all testimonies are finished and the accused have to defend themselves without a lawyer, which is the tradition in gacaca.
The trials must go on until 1600 without interruption, it is tiresome and people are annoyed by this. They start shouting, going out and back to their seats.
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