Visit of the Nyange school

 On Monday 3^rd August 2015, Global Youth Connect (GYC) visited the Nyange School to learn more about the history of the school, as it encountered some of the consequences of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide. It was a long journey to move from kigali to Nyange.

 GYC team at Nyange school.

  During the visit, we met the principal of the school who narrated the history of the school.

 According to the principal, he said the perpetrators attacked on 19^th March 1997, three years after the incident of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide. These perpetrators never agreed with the idea of unity and reconciliation, which were continually taught at the Nyange School. 

On the night of the attack, the perpetrators first killed the night watchman. They proceeded to the senior six class where they told the students to separate themselves into two groups - Hutu and Tutsi. To their surprise, the students refused to separate themselves saying, “We are all Rwandans.”  The student’s decision triggered the perpetrators to shoot them, resulting in the deaths of two girls and one boy.
                                                                

Inside the original senior six class.

Continually the traitors went to the senior five class, thinking that they were young and would obey their orders.  Surprisingly, they had the same spirit of unity and solidarity. They refused to separate following the culture of their older brothers and sisters. Unfortunately, it led to the deaths of two boys and one boy, as well as the severe injury of seventeen others. 

At senior five class.

 One boy, who was severely injured and rushed to the hospital, died two years later from his injuries. 

Luckily, their voices and cry were heard by RPF Nkotanyi who were in the nearby forests and immediately came to their rescue.         

One year later, in 1998, the perpetrators planned and executed another attack on the teachers. Three teachers living near the school died.

During the visit, Turikumwe participants walked around the school grounds, visited the memorial for the student (UWAMAHORO M.CHANTAL) who lost her life and listened to the principal as he retold the story of the 1997 attack and we took a time to remember for those heroes.

At the burial of Chantal.

According to the principal, the school is planning to bring back the late students’ bodies to bury them at the school.  The burial site will become a memorial and a learning center for students who want to know more about the Genocide history of the school and Rwanda in general.

The heroes.

In preparation for the trip, Turikumwe participants watched “We Are All Rwandans,” a short film that tells the story of the March 1997 massacre of the Nyange school students. We got a chance to meet with the player from the film who told us much about the school and the reason why they made the film that discribe the story from that school.

            (After we visited the Nyange school, we continued our journey to Karongi district)