Rwanda Survivor Helps 1,000+ Women Rebuild After Genocide

Thirty years after losing her husband and child in the Rwandan genocide, Godelieve Mukasarasi has turned her pain into purpose. She's helped more than 1,000 women and children not just survive, but thrive.

Mukasarasi is a survivor of the 1994 genocide that killed over 800,000 people in just 100 days. She was raped, lost family members, and watched her country tear itself apart along ethnic lines.

Instead of letting trauma define her, she made a promise. If her children survived, she would dedicate her life to helping others heal.

That promise became Sevota, a nonprofit organization supporting women who were raped during the genocide and children born from that violence. Her work goes far beyond traditional aid.

"Speaking helps us heal," Mukasarasi explains in her new book, La Réparatrice (The Repairer). She created safe spaces where survivors could share their stories without shame or fear.

But talking is just the beginning. Sevota offers therapy through prayer, songs, poetry, and theater. The organization also provides income-generating activities because Mukasarasi knows economic stability is crucial for psychological healing.

The impact shows most powerfully in the children. Once called "children of misfortune" and rejected by their communities, they're now seen differently.

"They are no longer defined only by the circumstances of their birth, but by their talents, ambitions and achievements," Mukasarasi says. Mothers even created a song celebrating how beautiful their children are.

Why This Inspires

Mukasarasi could have remained defined by what was done to her. Instead, she chose to become what she calls a "repairer" of invisible wounds.

Her work proves that healing isn't just about justice in courtrooms. It's about restoring dignity, rebuilding social bonds, and ensuring painful histories aren't forgotten or repeated.

Around 70 percent of Rwanda's population was born after the genocide. Yet trauma passes through generations like an echo. Mukasarasi's work breaks that cycle by helping survivors reclaim their own stories.

Each success story feeds her strength. "Each time I see a young person born of violence succeed, each time a mother accepts and embraces her child, each time she dares to dream of a better future, then we are standing," she says.

Her message extends beyond Rwanda to women facing war violence everywhere. The question she raises matters universally: Can societies recover from collective trauma?

Mukasarasi's answer, built through decades of patient work with survivors, is yes. If we survived, it is to live, and if we live, it is to give the world testimony of resilience and love.