Genocide in Rwanda ― Testimonies of Survivors

When the genocide in Rwanda took place between April and July 1994, it highlighted the extent to which the Tutsi people suffered at the hands of tribalism extremists. It was especially women and children who bore the brunt of the ethnic violence that consumed Rwanda. Young girls became the spoils of the genocide. A majority of them were brutally raped, many dying as a result. The few who survived physical abuse were forced into early marriages with the men who were meting out vicious attacks on the young women and their ethnic group. Many of the girls contracted HIV/AIDS and were abandoned with children and the unborn. Although the girls were coerced into marriage, some entered into matrimony willingly, clinging on to the hope that their lives would be spared. Sadly they ended up being killed by their Hutu husbands.