Pauline is thirteen years old when the Tutsi genocide breaks out in Rwanda in April 1994. She lives in the Karongi region, one of the most devastated areas.
The country is engulfed in flames. Everywhere, Tutsis are hunted and killed. To increase their chances of escaping the killers, the family decides to scatter.

 

Pauline, lost in the heart of barbarism, will witness unimaginable massacres but manages to escape. Among her five siblings, she is the only one to survive.

Three decades have passed, but in Pauline's memory, it feels like it was yesterday. She remembers playing by Lake Kivu, in Kinyonza, in western Rwanda, with her brothers and sisters: Innocent, aged fifteen, Joseph, aged eleven, Joséphine, aged nine, Séraphine, aged seven, and Patric, only three years old. She recalls, with a smile, unforgettable memories of all her loved ones: her mother Félicité, her grandmother Pursikira, her maternal uncle Naphtal, her grandfather Ruhago, her family, friends, and Tutsi neighbors. Like over one million three hundred thousand Tutsis, they were murdered in Rwanda by an extremist Hutu government that had planned the genocide for over thirty years.

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Often alone in the midst of chaos, Pauline now realizes the miracle of being alive. She conveys a message, especially for those in need: one must hold onto hope in all circumstances.

Today, Pauline is the mother of two daughters and lives in Brussels. You can invite her to your schools, associations, and companies to hear her universal testimony. She will also share information about present-day Rwanda, a country transformed into a land of peace and dignity, thanks to the strength of character of just men and women.

Through her travel and conference project, she is committed to helping her community by building infrastructure on the ground and paying for the education of children living in the village where she was born.