Survivors Fund

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Survivors Fund (SURF)
Founded30 July 1997;26 years ago (1997-07-30)
Founded at London, England
Type International NGO
Registration no.1065705 [1]
Focus Healthcare
Justice
Education
Housing
Memory
Headquarters Kigali, Rwanda
Area served
Rwanda
Chief Executive
Samuel Munderere [2]
Website www.survivors-fund.org.uk

Survivors Fund (SURF), founded in 1997, represents and supports survivors of the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda (Rwandan genocide) in Rwanda. It is the principal international charity with a specific remit to assist survivors of the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, and has offices in London and Kigali. It is registered with the Charity Commission for England & Wales.

Contents

The charity supports projects for survivors in Rwanda in fields including education, healthcare, shelter, justice and memory. Campaigns have included raising awareness of the threat to survivors resulting from the release of prisoners through gacaca. [3]

Founder

Survivors Fund (SURF) was founded by Mary Kayitesi Blewitt, a British citizen of Rwandan origin, at the behest of survivors after losing 50 family members during the genocide in 1994. At the end of the genocide in July 1994, Blewitt volunteered for the Ministry of Rehabilitation in Rwanda, working for eight months helping to bury the dead and to support the survivors. [4] This formative experience inspired her to set up Survivors Fund (SURF) on her return to the UK to ensure that survivors received aid, assistance and support, and that their voices would be heard by people around the world. [5] Her work has meant that she has received numerous awards such as the Pilkington Award by the Women of the Year Lunch & Assembly [6] and appointment as an OBE.

Fields of work

Survivors Fund (SURF) works to address the numerous challenges still faced by survivors of the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, including:

Healthcare

Survivors still suffer from genocide related physical injuries, mental health illnesses and HIV and AIDS which require specialist care. Many survivors were infected with HIV and AIDS during the genocide, and still require support to access antiretroviral treatment. [7] There is also a need to provide support to survivors to afford Mutuelle de Sante (public health insurance). [8]

Education

Survivors have benefited from access to schooling since the establishment of the Government Assistance Fund for Vulnerable Genocide Survivors (FARG) in 1998. [9] Over 100,000 survivors completed secondary school with support from FARG, of which a further 33,000 survivors have been funded to complete higher education. [10] However, second-generation survivors (in particular children born to women survivors raped during the genocide) did not benefit from FARG support and have required additional support to secure the same educational opportunities afforded to survivors. There is a particular need for more vocational training to enable school graduates to transition into employment.

Housing

There are still many vulnerable survivors who have no accommodation or a decent place to sleep, often having to live a transitory life, moving from place to place to seek shelter, with an estimated 2,100 houses in need of urgent renovation nationwide. [11] This results in high anxiety and hopelessness. Most of these families are very poor; left to deal with the consequences of genocide, and general ill health. Many of the needy have no skills to acquire jobs. Even those in employment cannot afford to build a house because building materials are too costly or they find it increasingly difficult to find the resources to build houses of their own, to buy or to rent. Without shelter security and rehabilitation becomes impossible.

Justice

Personal security for survivors in Rwanda is an ongoing concern, as many must live side-by-side with men who raped them and killed their families, as the perpetrators of the genocide are being released back into the community. The country no longer has the resource to continue to keep these men incarcerated, and so by admitting guilt at local gacaca (community-based) trials they are now free. The insecurity of survivors is fuelled by intimidation, harassment, death threats and killings by the continuing campaign to release prisoners. [12]

Memory

Nearly thirty years after genocide in Rwanda, the remains of many victims of genocide are still to be buried. Many of them still lie in trenches, abandoned latrines, churches, on the hills and many other places - some known, some yet to be discovered. Many of these locations are revealed by genocide suspects currently held in prisons that have confessed to involvement in the genocide (through gacaca). [13] Alongside the burial programme, a programme has undertaken with the USC Shoah Foundation Institute to record the testimonies of survivors. [14]

Situation for survivors today

Nearly thirty years after the genocide, Rwanda has made significant progress in rebuilding internally, but the many scars remain fresh. The legacy of genocide touches almost every aspect of life for the survivors. In addition to recurring psychological trauma suffered by many from their experiences, survivors of the genocide face multiple difficulties. Many are impoverished and face complex health problems, such as HIV and AIDS, as a direct result of the violence perpetrated against them during the genocide. Survivors are still threatened with violence, attacked or killed by former perpetrators, and for many a climate of fear persists. Rebuilding their lives alongside individuals responsible for murder and rape is a difficult reality faced by all survivors in Rwanda. [15]

There is an estimated 300,000 survivors in Rwanda, of which 120,000 are considered by the Rwandan Ministry of Affairs to be very vulnerable and 35% suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD. [16] Besides support given to survivors through SURF over the last 25 years, the only other sustainable and significant funding for survivors has come from the Rwandan Government, which channels supports to vulnerable survivors through the Government of Rwanda Social Security Board. [17]

SURF’s partners

SURF collaborates closely with key partners such as IBUKA (National Umbrella of Survivors’ Organisations), AVEGA (Association of Widows of the Genocide), AERG (National Student's Association of Genocide Survivors), GAERG (National Survivor's Association of Graduate Students), Uyisenga N'Manzi (Organization of Child Survivors with HIV/AIDS), and Solace Ministries (Christian Survivors Support Organization).

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rwanda</span> Country in Central Africa

Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is highly elevated, giving it the soubriquet "land of a thousand hills", with its geography dominated by mountains in the west and savanna to the southeast, with numerous lakes throughout the country. The climate is temperate to subtropical, with two rainy seasons and two dry seasons each year. It is the most densely populated mainland African country; among countries larger than 10,000 km2, it is the fifth-most densely populated country in the world. Its capital and largest city is Kigali.

Human occupation of Rwanda is thought to have begun shortly after the last ice age. By the 11th century, the inhabitants had organized into a number of kingdoms. In the 19th century, Mwami (king) Rwabugiri of the Kingdom of Rwanda conducted a decades-long process of military conquest and administrative consolidation that resulted in the kingdom coming to control most of what is now Rwanda. The colonial powers, Germany and Belgium, allied with the Rwandan court.

The Tutsi, also called Watusi, Watutsi or Abatutsi, are an ethnic group of the African Great Lakes region. They are a Bantu-speaking ethnic group and the second largest of three main ethnic groups in Rwanda and Burundi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Interahamwe</span> Paramilitary group involved in 1994 Rwandan Genocide

The Interahamwe is a Hutu paramilitary organization active in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. The Interahamwe was formed around 1990 as the youth wing of the National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development, the then-ruling party of Rwanda, and enjoyed the backing of the Hutu Power government. The Interahamwe, led by Robert Kajuga, were the main perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide, during which an estimated 500,000 to 1,000,000 Tutsi, Twa, and moderate Hutus were killed from April to July 1994, and the term "Interahamwe" was widened to mean any civilian militias or bands killing Tutsi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rwandan genocide</span> 1994 genocide in Rwanda

The Rwandan genocide, also known as the genocide against the Tutsi, occurred between 7 April and 19 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. During this period of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi minority ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Twa, were killed by armed Hutu militias. Although the Constitution of Rwanda states that more than 1 million people perished in the genocide, the actual number of fatalities is unclear, and some estimates suggest that the real number killed was likely lower. The most widely accepted scholarly estimates are around 500,000 to 800,000 Tutsi deaths.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bibliography of the Rwandan genocide</span>

This is a bibliography for primary sources, books and articles on the personal and general accounts, and the accountabilities, of the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

The Gacaca courts were a system of transitional justice in Rwanda following the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. The term 'gacaca' can be translated as 'short grass' referring to the public space where neighborhood male elders (abagabo) used to meet to solve local problems. The name of this system was then adopted in 2001 as the title of the state's new criminal justice system "Gacaca Courts" to try those deemed responsible for the 1994 genocide against the tutsi where over an estimated 1,000,000 people were killed, tortured and raped. In 1994, the United Nations Security Council created the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda to try high-ranking government and army officials accused of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. The Gacaca Courts were established in law in 2001, began to operate on a trial basis in 2002 and eventually came to operate as trials throughout the country by early 2007. The Gacaca courts were presented as a method of transitional justice, claimed by the Rwandan government to promote communal healing and rebuilding in the wake of the Rwandan Genocide. Rwanda has especially focused on community rebuilding placing justice in the hands of trusted citizens.

The Kigali Genocide Memorial commemorates the 1994 Rwandan genocide. The remains of over 250,000 people are interred there.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Religion in Rwanda</span>

Christianity is the largest religion in Rwanda. The most recent national census from 2012 indicates that: 43.7% of Rwanda's population is Catholic, 37.7% is Protestant, 11.8% is Seventh-day Adventist, 2.0% is Muslim, 2.5% claims no religious affiliation, and 0.7% is Jehovah's Witness.

Flower in the Gun Barrel is a 2008 documentary film focusing on the process of reconciliation and forgiveness in post-genocide Rwanda. The film depicts both the current conditions in Rwanda and the buildup to the genocide in 1994. It is unique in that it illustrates the complex challenges of average citizens attempting to forgive the neighbors who slaughtered their families. It is a testament to what human beings are capable of. The topic of forgiveness, and the difficulty of coming to terms with those who have killed one's parents, siblings, children and neighbors, is a universal theme that comes to life through the example of Rwanda.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HIV/AIDS in Rwanda</span>

Rwanda faces a generalized epidemic, with an HIV prevalence rate of 3.1 percent among adults ages 15 to 49. The prevalence rate has remained relatively stable, with an overall decline since the late 1990s, partly due to improved HIV surveillance methodology. In general, HIV prevalence is higher in urban areas than in rural areas, and women are at higher risk of HIV infection than men. Young women ages 15 to 24 are twice as likely to be infected with HIV as young men in the same age group. Populations at higher risk of HIV infection include people in prostitution and men attending clinics for sexually transmitted infections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeannette Kagame</span> First Lady of Rwanda

Jeannette Nyiramongi Kagame is the wife of Paul Kagame. She became the First Lady of Rwanda when her husband took office as President in 2000. Kagame is the founder and chairman of Imbuto Foundation, a non-profit organization whose mission is to support the development of a healthy, educated and prosperous society.

The Notebooks of Memory is the third documentary film in a trilogy by Anne Aghion examining the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kabgayi</span> Place in Southern Province, Rwanda

Kabgayi is just south of Gitarama in Muhanga District, Southern Province, Rwanda, 25 miles (40 km) southwest of Kigali. It was established as a Catholic Church mission in 1905. It became the center for the Roman Catholic Church in Rwanda and is the site of the oldest cathedral in the country and of Catholic seminaries, schools and a hospital. The church at first supported the Tutsi ruling elite, but later backed the Hutu majority. During the 1994 Rwandan genocide thousands of Tutsis who had taken refuge here were killed. Some survivors admire the courage of many priests who helped them during those difficult days, like Father Evergiste RUKEBESHA and many others. Later, some Hutus including three bishops and many priests were killed by the rebels RPF soldiers. A mass grave beside the hospital is marked by a memorial. Inside the Basilica are kept the bodies of the three bishops killed by FPR rebels. Two of them were refused by the Rwandan government to be transferred in their own cathedrals.

During the Rwandan genocide of 1994, over the course of 100 days, up to half a million women and children were raped, sexually mutilated, or murdered. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) handed down the first conviction for the use of rape as a weapon of war during the civil conflict, and, because the intent of the mass violence against Rwandan women and children was to destroy, in whole or in part, a particular ethnic group, it was the first time that mass rape during wartime was found to be an act of genocidal rape.

Youth in Rwanda constituted 40% of the resident population in 2012, numbering 4.1 million. The Republic of Rwanda's Ministry of Youth, Culture, and Sports defines youth as those from age 14 to 35 years. Like many developing countries, Rwanda's population as a whole is quite young. Over 50% of the Rwandan population is under 20 years old and the median age of the population is 22.7 years old. Urban areas of Rwanda have a higher percentage of youth than rural areas, though 80% of young people in Rwanda live in rural areas. Youth constitute over 53% of the population within the capital, Kigali. The youth population in Rwanda grew by 30% from 2002 to 2012.

Jonathan Ruhumuliza is a Rwandan retired Anglican bishop, who served as Bishop of Kigali and Bishop of Cameroon. He is currently a parish priest in the Church of England.

In 1999, Rwanda began its National Unity and Reconciliation Commission (NURC) in order to work towards a reconciliation of the conflicting parties involved in the Rwandan Civil War and the Rwandan genocide, with the eventual goal of reunifying the country’s citizens. The passage of the Government of National Unity Law No. 03/99 provided for the establishment of the National Unity and Reconciliation Commission, which became a permanent body in 2002, and continues its function to the present day. As its name suggests, the Commission is intended to promote unity and reconciliation amongst the former opponents present in the Rwandan population.

Chantal Kabasinga is a Rwandan politician and the president of the Association of Widows of Genocide in Rwanda.

References

  1. "Survivors Fund (SURF)- Charity 1065705". register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  2. "Our People" . Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  3. "Rwanda: Protect genocide survivors, authorities urged". IRIN. 8 April 2008. Retrieved 8 April 2008.
  4. "Genocide is beyond forgiveness?". The Forgiveness Project. 2005. Retrieved 14 May 2008.
  5. "Living with the past". Oxford Forum. 2005. Archived from the original on 26 March 2009. Retrieved 14 May 2008.
  6. "Mary Kayitesi Blewitt is presented with the Pilkington Award". Getty Images. 2004. Retrieved 10 November 2004.
  7. "Rwandan women surviving genocide now face AIDS". Afrol News. 6 April 2004. Retrieved 6 April 2004.
  8. "Strategic Planning (Health) - Survivors Fund". Survivors Fund. 2020. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
  9. "Strategic Planning (Education) - Survivors Fund". Survivors Fund. 2020. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  10. "FARG has spent Rwf333 billion so far, has it lived up to expectations? - The New Times (Rwanda)". The New Times (Rwanda). 2021. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  11. "FARG in Rwf19 billion shortfall for Genocide survivors' housing needs - The New Times (Rwanda)". The New Times (Rwanda). 2020. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  12. "Rwandan bishops apologize for letter urging release of old, ill convicts". National Catholic Reporter. 2019. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
  13. "Over 9,000 Genocide victims get decent burial - The New Times (Rwanda)". The New Times (Rwanda). 2022. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
  14. "Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda". University of Southern California. 2022. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  15. "Societal Healing in Rwanda: Toward a Multisystemic Framework for Mental Health, Social Cohesion, and Sustainable Livelihoods among Survivors and Perpetrators of the Genocide against the Tutsi - Health and Human Rights Journal". Health and Human Rights. 2022. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  16. "Statistics - Survivors Fund". Survivors Fund. 2022. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  17. "Social Protection: Rwanda - International Labour Organisation". International Labour Organization. 2022. Retrieved 29 December 2022.