Rose Burizihiza | Survivor of the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda

Rose Burizihiza was born in Cyeru (Sahera sector), Rwanda on August 5, 1970. She lived there with her mother, father, and seven siblings on a large plot of farmland, where the family produced crops and raised livestock. During primary school, Rose suffered anti-Tutsi prejudice in class, and discrimination prevented her from attending secondary school. Prior to the genocide, Rose wanted to become a nun, but she was forced into marriage and had three children with her husband who perished in the genocide. After President Juvenal Habyarimana’s plane crashed on April 6, 1994, Rose stayed in her village, and the village leaders initially encouraged residents to fight the Hutu militias conducting killings in neighboring villages. Soon afterwards, their family home was burned and their livestock were taken. In the weeks that followed, Rose joined thousands of Tutsi from nearby villages in an area called Kabakobwa, which was attacked by genocidal militia and national military on April 22. Rose escaped the attack and made her way to a hospital, where she hid briefly until she was saved from execution by a local official who held her in sexual slavery. Her captor, Pascal Habyarimana, found surviving members of her family and forced Rose to witness their murders. Rose suffered repeated sexual assaults from both Pascal and other men during the genocide, but in her captivity she was able to keep two of her children alive. She was liberated by Rwandan Patriotic Army soldiers in her captor’s house, near her home village, in July 1994. After the genocide, Rose sought physical and psychological treatment and founded ABASA, an association of genocide-rape survivors, which began as a self-help group in the Southern Province. She testified at criminal trials, including at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, in Arusha, Tanzania. Rose is one of twenty recipients of the African Women of Empowerment Awards, honoring the leadership and impact of women with a personal vision to help overcome social obstacles and pave the way for the betterment of people’s lives in their communities. She was interviewed on August 17, 2011, in Ngoma-Huye, Rwanda.