Ephigenia Mukantabana Hails from South Province, she survived the 1994 Rwanda Genocide against the Tutsi. She lost 65 members in her entire family and had lost hope of life. Gahaya Links encouraged her to join weaving cooperatives where she would in the least interact with other women for support. It was very difficult for Ephigenia, she did not want to meet wives, daughters or sisters of her family killers. She sought her consolation in church where sings in the church choir, but later had to join weaving centers because she needed an income to support her. Ephigenia is a master weaver; women have elected her in her home village as their president of the weaving cooperative. People in her village did not believe that she could indeed guide relatives of her family killers but to everybody’s surprise, she turned out the to be the leader of change. After weaving with the killers of her family, she was the first Rwandan to publicly open her heart to the killer of her family and forgive him in open Gacaca court. After her encouraging story of openness and forgiveness, she opened the window for many people to speak about their pains and forgive the killers. In Rwanda, Ephigenia will always be a part of this country’s reconciliation efforts following the horrors of the 1994 genocide. |