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Godeliève Mukasarasi

Rwandan social worker, founder and coordinator of the organization Solidarity for the Development of Widows and Orphans to Promote Self-Sufficiency and Livelihoods (SEVOTA)

Godeliève Mukasarasi (born 1959) is a Rwandan social worker, genocide survivor, and rural development activist. She is the founder of the organization called Sevota that support widowed women and their children after the genocide against the Tutsi in 1994.

Quotes

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  • We must learn how to live positively with the bad and good.
  • Everyone still lives with the consequences. Some of the perpetrators went to jail, but they come back and live close to the survivors. The genocide is not over; the survivors are still living with those who committed the crimes.
  • In general, the women did not speak about rape because of shame as well as fear of becoming marginalized or someone taking revenge.
  • We also want to encourage them to tell their children the truth. Doing so is hard, but it helps the women to really opt for life, including the life of their child.
  • There is role play, which helps to better understand their situation and solve current problems.
  • Many women do not even know that children have rights. Moreover, there is time for singing, dancing and praying.
  • The women’s daily life is marked by worries and difficulties, so we need to reduce stress levels. And we teach them a simple and soothing massage method they can always apply themselves.
  • The women live scattered all over the country, and many had never left their village before coming to the forum. The group setting helps them to better understand their own situation.
  • It is not easy to expose oneself to other people’s suffering again and again. One has to learn to draw a line.
  • We have been demanding a special fund for these children and their mothers, but so far, the government remains stubborn.
  • Thanks to the proceedings, many people were able to find the bodies of their dead and bury them.
  • In 1998, women’s rights activists like us managed to make sure that the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda considers rape in war a genocidal crime, so those who planned and perpetrated such violence can be prosecuted.
  • Our forums encourage the women to take their fate into their own hands and find inner peace, in spite of the humiliation and violence they have suffered.
  • In our view, finding peace within oneself is a precondition for society-wide peace. I’m not saying we do no longer demand justice and want criminals to be prosecuted, but ultimately, we want reconciliation.
  • There are consequences of sexual violence in conflicts. The first is HIV and AIDS, [but also] kids who are born from rape, unwanted pregnancies.
  • The important thing is to make sure the U.N. creates another resolution to support the kids who are born from rape. If they are really working hard to prevent such things happening it has to be there. because it’s still happening in other parts of the world.
  • We feel we are the ones who are able to speak out and…to be a voice for them.
  • Rwandan women have played a big role to make sure that sexual violence in conflict became known as a crime against humanity, for us to be in the U.N. is a way of recognizing the hard work and what we have done.
  • It was a tough time, but I still tried to work with them because they also needed to live, and to live in peace.
  • I wanted the widows and orphans, as well as other distressed people, to adjust. I wanted them to restart their shattered and broken lives and work toward peace and the development of our country.
  • It's very important to work with these women because they have undergone many atrocities during the genocide, and like other women and other humans, they have a right to live.
  • We were proud because we had an impact, not only nationally but on the international scale, as well.
  • My work will never be done, Even when I die, there must be others to continue this work.
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