Copyright © 2019 GM&A Publishing
Excerpts by permission of Publisher
PROFILE
Chantal Kagwenyonga (Seminega)
Tutsi survivor
Wife of Tharcisse Seminega
Mother of five children
From a royal family line
Former nun
Born in Rwanda, Chantal grew up in a close-knit family when life was simple. Her family is related to the Tutsi royal dynasty of Abahindiro. She was the youngest and only girl of six children. Chantal’s early childhood was peaceful. She grew up in a village where Hutu and Tutsi friends played together.
Life Changes Drastically
Life changed drastically when Chantal was ten years old. Political changes and ethnic tensions meant families of the royal line became a target for harassment and persecution. Her family’s home was destroyed, their cows killed, and their belongings looted. They had to flee for their lives, going without food and water and living in fear. Chantal’s father and uncles were imprisoned on false charges, and her brothers fled to other countries. After more than two years, they were able to return home only to find their property had been taken.
From a Nun to a Wife and Mother
Chantal was raised in a strong Catholic family that included several priests and nuns. In time, she herself became a nun, studying theology in Rome. After eight years Chantal decided to end her career as a nun and return to Rwanda.
At the age of 29, Chantal married Tharcisse, and they settled in Butare. Over the next eight years they welcomed five children. Most of those years were spent peacefully in France while Tharcisse earned his doctorate. Chantal was reluctant to return to Rwanda because of increasing political and ethnic tensions, and yet the family returned in 1988.
Discrimination Becomes Extermination
Although they were victims of discrimination and persecution, Chantal and Tharcisse were living a relatively quiet life. Then, two missiles brought down the plane carrying the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi on April 6, 1994, triggering mass killings of Tutsi.
On April 21, Chantal and the children were frantic with worry when Tharcisse was away from home for nine hours. When he returned, Chantal listened in horror as her husband reported what he had seen that day. Expecting to be killed, the family gathered in the living room to say a prayer.
Weeping in Her Heart
When a knock at the door turned out to be a family friend named Adolphe, Chantal called the children out of hiding. In desperation she asked Adolphe what they should do. He instructed them to leave their home in two groups; he would take two of the children with him. Chantal panicked. With the militia right outside their home she felt that leaving would make the killers’ job easier. With her heart pounding wildly, she followed Tharcisse into the bush, forgetting her glasses.
That evening, while their friend Justin was leading the family to his home, Tharcisse was kept at a roadblock with a machete at his throat. Justin motioned to Chantal to keep moving along with the children. Weeping in her heart, she wondered if she would ever see her husband again. Thankfully, later that evening they were reunited. They eventually ended up in a mud goat shack where they would hide for over a month. Chantal suffered helplessly as she watched her sons develop asthma because of the filthy conditions and the trauma they were experiencing.
Anxiety and Hopelessness
Moving to their final hiding place meant the family had to split up once again. Chantal and her youngest son Benjamin were hidden in the home of a woman whose husband was a Hutu Power supporter. Chantal felt terrified because of his aggressive manner. She thought he was going to rape her or kill them. Arrangements were made quickly for Jean-Damascène to come and get them.
Chantal had barely moved for weeks. Now, with seven-year-old Benjamin on her back, she had to walk barefoot up and down muddy paths, in the rain, for four and a half hours in the dark. As they walked they encountered a man that accused Jean-Damascène of helping Chantal and her son escape. She trembled as Jean-Damascène tried various ways to convince the man to let them go, which he finally did. Chantal was deeply moved by this Hutu man’s courage and self-sacrificing love, putting his life at risk to save her and her son.
Chantal will never forget the two weeks they hid with Jean-Damascène and his wife in their home. She was deeply anxious not knowing what was happening with the rest of her family. Chantal often gave her small portion of food to Benjamin, who was always hungry and showing signs of starvation. Seeing her son suffer just because he was Tutsi made her feel hopeless.
Finally, she was reunited with her family in the underground room. The lack of food and the deteriorating health of her children and husband caused her much worry and sleepless nights. Benjamin had now become so weak that Chantal had to chew up roasted soybeans and feed him like a baby bird.
Life Will Never Be the Same
While at the survivors’ camp in Shyanda, and in the following years, Chantal kept hanging on to the hope that her family and friends might have survived. Instead, her heart was broken over and over as she learned that most of her family were murdered. Chantal has a deep wound in her heart from the loss of her two brothers, as well as aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews. More than 120 of her and her husband’s relatives went to mass graves. Chantal still cannot understand why they died. She questions if the scars in her heart will ever heal.
As a survivor of the genocide, she continues to suffer with feelings of anxiety and insecurity. When her husband or children go out, especially at night, she is afraid something will happen to them. She fears walking in a park, imagining that an enemy might jump out of the trees and harm her. She is afraid that what happened to her and her family will happen again.
In March 2003, Chantal, and most of the Seminega family, immigrated to Canada where they now reside.
Today, she and her husband willingly volunteer their time to share the lessons they have learned from living through one of the darkest times in history. Chantal understands the struggle to overcome bitterness and despair and the importance of resisting a spirit of revenge. She has seen first-hand how easily humans can be influenced. She feels that all people must be educated on how to train their conscience to know right from wrong, and then do the right thing.