HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2019-04-18, Page 11THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2019. PAGE 11.
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about people. As journalists, we
sometimes feel we have succeeded if
our work brings those people to life.
For those who report on conflict and
mass atrocities, perhaps we have
achieved something if we can
convince people to identify with
those who have perished, to feel
some connection and responsibility
and most important, to learn.
And the most powerful moment of
my return journey to Rwanda was
the chance to spend April 11 with the
family of Gabriel Kagaba, the
patriarch who was slain on the
street in Kigali all those years
ago, a death caught on camera.
We placed a single red rose
on the spot where 25 years ago
to the day, two people among
the hundreds of thousands of
victims of the 1994 Rwanda
genocide lost their lives.
The Kagaba family returned
to the street in Gikondo where
the fabric of their world was
torn asunder by the brutal
murders of a father and sister in
the first spasms of the Rwanda
genocide.
As far as I know, the Hughes
footage is one of the only
instances of a killing being
caught on camera by a
journalist during the genocide.
That fact in itself speaks
volumes. There just weren’t
enough of us there to capture
these events, to make the world
understand or care.
The grainy video shows
Gabriel and his daughter
Justine kneeling on the dirt
road among the bodies of
others that had already been
slain. Gabriel is waving his
arms, in prayer. Moments later,
men armed with clubs and farm
tools step forward and beat
Gabriel and Justine to death.
They were murdered in front of
the whole world, but no one knew
their names, or seemed to care.
Years later, I went back to Rwanda
to find witnesses to that killing and
to identify the victims in the famous
footage, who had up to that point
been anonymous. That story, “The
father and daughter we let down”
can still be found online in the
Toronto Star.
A quarter century after those
killings, I had the honour of
spending the day Thursday with
Rosalie Uzamukunda - who lost her
husband Gabriel and oldest daughter
Justine that day.
Since I documented her family’s
story for the Toronto Star in 2009,
Rosalie and I have kept in touch. I
try to support them the best I can and
I see Rosalie and the rest of the
family whenever I’m in Rwanda.
I’m Facebook friends with her
youngest son Isaac (who was born
two months after the death of his
father and elder sister) as well as
sisters Violette and Yvette. There are
also two older sisters, Josephine and
Debra and a brother, Charles. In
2017, I took our son Laith to visit as
well and since then, the family in
Rwanda always asks for him. And
my wife Roula always sends gifts for
them as well.
After spending some time at the
memorial, Rosalie insisted on once
again visiting the street in Gikondo,
where the killings took place, and to
see the bulldozed lot where their
family home once stood. To
compound the family’s struggle, the
simple but functional home that was
Gabriel Kagaba’s legacy to his wife
and children had been built on a
flood plain and would eventually
crumble and be swept away, leaving
Rosalie with nothing.
Later we made the long drive to
Rosalie’s rented home in Kabuga, a
simple red brick structure with a
small living room, kitchen and two
bedrooms. There is a little patch of
lawn beside the house, which backs
onto a banana grove. Rosalie pays
close to $100 U.S. per month in rent,
which is a burden compared to the
other home, which she owned.
Daughter Violette, the first
member of the family I met when I
showed up at their door as a reporter
all those years ago, was the one who
rose to speak on behalf of her
relatives. As is the custom in
Rwanda, she gave a beautiful
speech, recounting the early lives of
her father and sister and the family’s
grief at their passing. And she paid a
special tribute to me, calling me
someone she regards as one of her
father’s friends, “a friend of Gabriel
Kagaba.”
When it came my turn to speak, I
had to retreat behind the pages of my
book, to avoid breaking down. I
thanked the family for allowing me
to tell their story, to ensure that even
after the fact, the world knew about
what had happened that day on the
street in Gikondo, 25 years ago,
when we weren’t paying attention.
I closed by reading a passage from
the acknowledgements in my book,
which contains a chapter called “The
Genocide Video.”
“I must thank Rosalie
Uzamukunda, who had the courage
to share with me, and the world, the
story of how she lost the husband
and daughter who perished on a dirt
road in Kigali on April 11, 1994,
among the first victims of the
genocide in Rwanda. I dedicate this
collection to them — Gabriel Kagaba
and his daughter Justine
Mukangango — in the hope that we
learn something from their
passing.”
Thompson marks anniversary at vigil, memorial
Back again
Allan Thompson, a former reporter for the Toronto Star and
journalism professor at Carleton University in Ottawa, is seen
here earlier this month with Rwandan President Paul Kagame.
Thompson was back in Rwanda to mark the 25th anniversary of
the Rwandan genocide and promote his new book. (Courtesy photo)
An important pilgrimage
Goderich’s Allan Thompson was a reporter for the Toronto Star at the time of the Rwandan
genocide, now a quarter-century ago. He returned earlier this month to mark the occasion and
visit with friends he made during his time there. Here, he is seen with Rosalie Uzamukunda,
centre, who lost her husband and daughter in the genocide in a killing that was captured on
video and broadcast for the world to see. (Courtesy photo)
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