Uprooted by Genocide: My Journey from Rwanda to South Africa: A Life Turned Upside Down

On 1 October, 1990 a group of armed rebellion invaded Rwanda from Uganda. The group was quick to be identified as the Rwandan refugees who decided to come back home by the barrel of the gun. After almost 4 years of bitter fighting and negotiations with the Rwandan government, the war culminated into a genocide committed between April and July 1994. As a result, more than one million of Rwandans, mostly from Tutsi ethnic group, were savagely killed while up to three millions of mostly Hutu ran en masse into exile in neighbouring countries. I was one of them. While many refugees were forced to return to Rwanda from their refugee camps in Tanzania and Zaire, I trekked down the continent in search of both protection and greener pastures. This book narrates the where, the what and the how of major experiences of my journey from the minute I left my remote village in Rwanda in June 1994 until I settled down in South Africa in 1999 to start a new life. It also highlights the multifaceted obstacles that refugees and immigrants are faced with in adapting to a complete new and harsh environment.