Les sœurs écoutent aider à guérir comme le Rwanda marque 23 ans depuis le génocide

Les sœurs écoutent aider à guérir comme le Rwanda marque 23 ans depuis le génocide

Global Sisters Report (GSR) || Par Melanie Lidman || 6 avril 2017

Comme partout, les sœurs Benebikira, la plus ancienne congrégation autochtone du Rwanda, ont des sœurs qui sont enseignantes, infirmières, pharmaciennes, formatrices et administrateurs. Mais ils ont aussi un titre religieux unique : Sœur auditeur.

« Le génocide a créé de nombreux problèmes, certaines personnes ne veulent pas vivre à cause de ce qui s'est passé », a déclaré Sr Marie Venantie Nyirabaganwa, la supérieure générale des Sœurs Benebikira et le chef de l'Association des Supérieurs Majeurs du Rwanda, le groupe national de coordination pour les religieux et les religieuses.

Le génocide rwandais de 1994, où jusqu'à un million de personnes ont été tuées pendant 100 jours de combats et dans le chaos avant et après, se cache sous la surface de chaque interaction, bien que 23 ans se soient écoulés depuis que les tueurs ont posé leurs machettes.

Le pays est sorti avec succès de certaines des dévastations physiques après le génocide, l'économie augmentant à des taux impressionnants. Les gratte-ciels atteignent les cieux dans la capitale de Kigali et des routes bien pavées traversent la majeure partie de la campagne.

Maintenant le pays est perché dans un équilibre délicat, tandis que le peuple essaie d'honorer la mémoire de ceux qui ont été tués tout en regardant fermement vers l'avenir. Cette loi d'équilibre se concentre chaque année le 7 avril, date anniversaire du début du génocide. Il marque le début d'une période de trois mois où le pays s'en souvient.

« Il y a beaucoup de problèmes au Rwanda, et beaucoup de gens ont des problèmes mentaux à cause du génocide », a déclaré Nyirabaganwa. « Ceux qui ont tué ont leurs propres problèmes, et ceux qui ont perdu des personnes en raison du génocide ont leurs propres problèmes. »

« Surtout les mères qui ont perdu tous leurs enfants et maris, ou les jeunes qui ont perdu tous les membres de leur famille », a ajouté Nyirabaganwa. Beaucoup de gens ont juste besoin de quelqu'un pour écouter. Certains ont le VIH [le viol par des hommes séropositifs était l'un des outils utilisés pour brutaliser pendant le génocide]. Il y a différents problèmes avec les familles."

Six sœurs Benebikira sont dédiées à l'écoute à plein temps. Certaines des sœurs organisent des séances de thérapie de groupe, d'autres font des conseils individuels au besoin. Ils ont étudié différentes approches, y compris le travail pastoral ou le conseil, et vont à la formation continue sur une base régulière, Nyirabaganwa expliqué.

Le rôle de l'auditeur est moins formel que le thérapeute, mais il s'adapte mieux à la culture rwandaise, a-t-elle dit. "Les sœurs chargées d'écouter les aident spirituellement. Nous les aidons à résoudre leurs problèmes et à obtenir des réponses.

D'autres congrégations, y compris les Sœurs Saint-Boniface, ont adopté le modèle des « auditeurs », trouvant des façons de combiner le soutien psychologique avec les besoins et la culture uniques du Rwanda. Le rôle de ces auditeurs est particulièrement important au printemps.

« En avril, le pays ferme ses portes en mémoire pendant environ deux semaines. C'est une période de souvenir », a déclaré Nicole Sparbanie, bénévole du Peace Corps de Chicago qui travaille avec les sœurs Bernardines dans le village de Kamonyi, à 25 milles de Kigali. Chaque village ou district a son propre mémorial, habituellement une tombe et un mini-musée. De plus, chaque district observe les anniversaires des événements majeurs qui se sont produits localement pendant le génocide de 100 jours.

"Tous les écoliers marchent ensemble et lisent les noms des personnes qui sont mortes dans cette région. Ils racontent les histoires des victimes, et il y a aussi de l'art et de la musique », a déclaré Sparbanie.

Parce que chaque anniversaire local est marqué chaque année pendant cette période de 100 jours, les journaux et les émissions de radio sont pleins de rapports à leur sujet, en gardant l'accent sur le passé difficile du pays, même lorsque les gens essaient de passer à autre chose.

Bien que le gouvernement limite sévèrement la liberté d'expression au Rwanda, certains militants et organisations internationales se demande tranquillement si le gouvernement est utilisant les mémoriaux limiter l'opposition et maintenir son autorité. Official government memorials, including the Kigali Genocide Memorial, call it “the Genocide against the Tutsi,” which erases any reference to the thousands of Hutu who were killed, sometimes while protecting Tutsis. The title also negates any reference to crimes against the Hutu before the genocide or revenge killings that took place afterward. President Paul Kagame is Tutsi, although it is illegal to speak of ethnicity in Rwanda, as part of a government initiative called “Ndi Umunyarwanda” (“I am a Rwandan”).

“The recognition of committed atrocities and seeking of forgiveness is emphasised as a central aspect of this ‘Rwandasition’ project,” Patrick Hajayandi, a senior project leader for the South African organization Institut pour la justice et la réconciliation, wrote about the Rwandan memorials. “However, the recurring theme is the need for all Hutu to seek forgiveness from the Tutsi.” He worried that by consciously ignoring the pain of Hutu victims, the government is creating resentment that could explode in the future. “While memorials have a useful function, if they are not inclusive, they do not necessarily promote reconciliation,” he added.

Sisters are finding ways to work within the acceptable government framework of memorials to offer their counseling services to all of the victims — both Hutu and Tutsi, regardless of what roles they played in the genocide.

Sisters are an integral part of the government observations. They lead discussions and prayers during the memorial period, providing spiritual support during the official events and outside counseling on a personal basis.

“We work together with the government,” said Sr. Donatille Mukurabayaza, the local superior for the Bernardine Sisters in Kamonyi. Mukurabayaza trained in Capacitar, an international mindfulness training aimed at reconciliation in conflict zones. Capacitar emphasizes internal balance and peace more than external sharing that the Benebikira “Listening Sisters” provide. Both programs allow the sisters to offer counseling and spiritual support to groups and individuals privately, and also to take a leading role during the memorial period in April.

“The government gives the main line to follow for reconciliation, and then the civil society makes its contribution after that. The government has different programs, so we do those, and sometimes we improve upon them,” she said.

Mukurabayaza noted that government support is essential to their work. “Sometimes you may have a good vision but when there’s a barrier with the local authority you can’t achieve anything,” she said. “In Rwanda, the government has the same vision as the people – all Rwandans are the same, all Rwandans are equal, all people must contribute to the welfare of the people.”

Sr. Laurentine Musomayire, the assistant project manager for the Benebikira congregation, said they try to provide an example to villagers still struggling with reconciliation. “The sisters are joined together, we didn’t separate ourselves [into the Hutu and Tutsi tribes during the genocide],” she said. “We talked together, we lived together, we ate together without any problem. If we weren’t together, more sisters would have died. When people came and tried to kill sisters from one tribe, the sisters protected them and refused to give them up.”

This also meant that, in some places, entire communities of sisters were murdered because they refused to give up Tutsi sisters to the Hutu killers. The Benebikira congregation lost 22 sisters, both Hutu and Tutsi.

“During the genocide, they destroyed everything,” she said. “They stole so many things, even this building was destroyed. It was terrible. We had to start from nothing. We continued to work with the people, tried to talk to people here about what happened, we tried to teach them. Some people were angry at the church.”

The church played a complicated role in the genocide. In many instances, priests and sisters actively supported the killers, especially when victims fled to the churches for refuge and were handed over to the killers. International courts indicted four priests and two sisters for war crimes in connection with the genocide. The two Benedictine sisters, Sr. Gertrude Mukangango and Sr. Maria Kisito Mukabutera, received 15- and 12-year sentences, respectively, for their role in relinquishing 7,000 Tutsis who were hiding at their Sovu convent in southern Rwanda.

Les Catholic Church in Rwanda officially apologized for the Church’s role in the genocide on Nov. 20, 2016, the last Sunday of the Year of Mercy. However, the Rwandan government questioned the sincerity of the statement and called the apology an attempt to “[exonerate] the Catholic Church as a whole for any culpability in connection with the genocide.”

Pope Francis made an official apology when he met with Rwandan President Paul Kagame on March 20. Francis “conveyed his profound sadness, and that of the Holy See and of the Church, for the genocide against the Tutsi,” the Vatican said in une déclaration. “He expressed his solidarity with the victims and with those who continue to suffer the consequences of those tragic events.”

In Rwanda, activists believe that the Catholic Church has an important part to play in reconciliation despite its checkered past. “[These] institutions have a big role to play because they’re the ones who have access to people,” explained Honore Gatera, the director of the Kigali Genocide Memorial, at an event commemorating International Holocaust Day in February. Representatives of the Vatican and the Israeli ambassador to East Africa also attended the memorial.

“[The Church has] a huge responsibility,” Gatera said, especially in their schools. “They must be involved in commemoration and memorialization events and activities, but most importantly, they must be part of the education journey that we have started.”

Sisters are leading this journey, by reaching out to people wherever they feel most comfortable to talk, including their homes or places outside of the church. As the country marks another year since the genocide on April 7, the sisters providing psychosocial support are even busier during the memorial season.

“Emotions are so high around this time, even if you haven’t been through the genocide,” said Jean Claude Nkulikiyimfura, the director of a high school in the Rwamagana region of eastern Rwanda. “All schools are on break from March 28 to April 21, so kids can go back to their communities,” he said. People crave connection and comfort, sometimes causing them to turn to risky behavior. “Emotions are so high, we find that’s a time when some girls get pregnant,” Nkulikiyimfura added.

Although the memorial period can be the most intense, Mukurabayaza, the Bernardine sister, stresses the need for communication and understanding during the whole year. “Each person needs to learn to accept each other and respect each other,” she said. Every person has to express what he or she is feeling. You need that exchange.”

[Melanie Lidman is Middle East and Africa correspondent for Global Sisters Report based in Israel.]

Source: Global Sisters Report (GSR)…