On 18th June 2016, Dukundane Family will hold the 10th commemoration of 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi victims who were dumped into waters. The event will take place on the shores of Muhazi Lake in Rutunga Sector, Gasabo District. Muhazi is one the lakes into which hundreds of Genocide victims were drowned.
Since 2007, under the theme “Remembering and ensuring that water stays a source of life and not death,” Dukundane Family has been holding commemoration events in memory of the Genocide victims who were drown into lakes, rivers and streams.
Robert SHIMIRWA, the Coordinator of Dukundane Family said that waters were used as a weapon during the Genocide against the Tutsi:
He said “Rivers, streams, lakes and their banks were used as a weapon for mass destruction during the Genocide against the Tutsi. The commemoration is held on the banks because these were turned into cemeteries.”
Such commemoration activities are meant to ensure that survivors whose families were dumped into water find time to honour the memory of their relatives.
Till now, Dukundane Family has collected a number of over 400 names of the victims who were drowned into water; a monument was erected on the banks of river Nyabarongo in Ngororero District.
Previously, such commemoration events were held on the shores of Lake Kivu, Mugesera and Muhaze; and on the banks of river Akagera, Sebeya, Akanyaru and Nyabarongo.
Dukundane Family continues its advocacy for the construction of a special memorial center with detailed information on how lakes, rivers, streams and other water reserves were used as weapons of mass destruction in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. The organization also calls for the erection of monuments with names of the victims on the banks of the rivers where bodies of Genocide victims were dumped.
About Dukundane Family:
Dukundane Family is a youth organization of former students survivors of the 1994 Genocide (AERG Saint André). After completing their studies at Groupe Scolaire Saint André, these youths decided to work in unity and love to start Dukundane Family in 2007.
Dukundane Family has to date over 300 members, graduates, university and higher learning institution’s students and others. The mission of Dukundane Family is “remembrance, fighting and confronting genocide consequences”
UM– USEKE.RW
