Over a million people were killed during the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. 27 years later Rwandans and friends of Rwanda all around the world are remembering the dead at a distance. Kept apart by COVID-19 we are still joining together this April.

The Ishami Foundation, like all charities, has seen our work radically interrupted over the past year. We have adapted to host and speak at online events. We continue to foreground survivor voices, hoping that in this way we can continue to share lessons from Rwanda.

This Kwibuka27 please consider joining us at an event on April 15th co-hosted with the Weiner library discussing “Genocide and the Politics of Memory in Rwanda“. 

If you can please also donate to our ongoing fundraising campaign with Ibuka to support vulnerable survivors.

In April 2020 Ishami Foundation launched a fundraising campaign with Ibuka to support vulnerable survivors. So far, together with our international partners, this campaign has raised RWF 154,006,968 and reached 6,160 of the most vulnerable survivors and their families. Please continue to support us with donations if you can.

This is the second commemoration period survivors are living through under COVID-19 public health restrictions. These restrictions have enabled Rwanda to limit the spread of the virus. But they also come at a cost. One is distancing of communities at a time when they would usually be coming together in the same spaces to remember the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. 

Having lived through genocide, survivors also have a great deal to share in terms of resilience and community mobilisation when faced with trauma, isolation and loss. But to lead they need your help. Please join Ibuka and other survivors’ organisations in raising funds for  basic supplies for survivors and their dependents.  These include young people who are carrying memories of the genocide for the next generation: the peace-builders of the future.

Just £25 is enough to provide food for a family of three for a month. Please stand in solidarity with survivors today.

VISIT OUR GO FUND ME PAGE TO DONATE.

In 2020, towards the start of the pandemic, we shared  images of hope from the 100 Stories campaign to offer comfort and inspiration.

Ishami co-founder Jo Inagbire Moys explains:

“Resilient is a word often used to describe survivors of the genocide against the Tutsi. But no one is born resilient – it’s something you learn. We lived through unimaginable horrors. We lost so much. We carry on because even in our darkest moment, hope came to us from the most unexpected places. From the neighbours and strangers who dared to help, to fathers and mothers who sacrificed all so we could live. Heroes who remind us that life is worth cherishing. That the worst circumstances sometimes inspire the greatest acts of love and community.”

For more messages from survivors please follow us on Twitter and Instagram.