Portion of Memorial wall at Kigali Genocide memorial centre
The intent to exterminate the Tutsi and cruel methods used during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi left 15,593 families, comprising 68,871 people completely wiped out. This is according to the census done by the Alumni of Genocide Survivors’ Students Association (GAERG) in 2019.
The Executive Secretary of GAERG, Fidele Nsengiyaremye said that from 2009 to 2019, the association started the research count, intended to know the wiped-out families during the Genocide against the Tutsi.
It is through the process of counting that they found out that families perished because of the nature of brutality genocide was perpetrated. Members of the Alumni of Genocide Survivors’ Students Association went registering names of members who belonged to the perished families.
Nsengiyaremye added, “The information gathered in 10 years, indicate a preliminary status on wiped out families in Rwanda. We intend to apply modern technology to determine if all families were fully counted”.
Nsengiyaremye further said, “They never perished, our survival means their existence, remembering is keeping them alive,” he further said adding that commemoration of wiped out families is due on May 29 in Bugesera district.
The information about perished families has helped people searching for their lost relatives. Once they are approached by anyone and it is found out the family they are looking for is in their database, they inform them, so that they stop the search, and start cooping- up with the situation.
