July/August 2004

Views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of the AFSC.

Rwandan Women Survive Genocide, Rape, and HIV

Gerald Lenoir is a co-coordinator of the Priority Africa Network in the San Francisco Bay Area, PO Box 2556, Berkeley, CA, 94702, 510.527.4099, priorityafrica@yahoo.com. He traveled to Rwanda in April, 2004 as part of the Africa: Peace, Justice, and Reconciliation Tour to Rwanda and South Africa organized by the Africa Initiative of the American Friends Service Committee.

At the same time that Rwanda, a largely Christian nation, observed Easter and the resurrection in April of 2004, Rwandans also held somber commemorations of the tenth anniversary of the mass slaughter of 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus. The genocidal acts were orchestrated by the then Hutu-led government and carried out by a cross section of the Hutu population, mainly with machetes and other simple farm tools.

"Everybody in Rwanda is traumatized, to one degree or another," Reverend David Bucura of the Evangelical Friends Church in the capital of Kigali told us. A decade after the 1994 genocide, he said, Rwandans survivors and perpetrators are struggling to overcome the profound physical, psychological, and emotional scars ignored, as the genocide itself was, by many in the outside world.

The United Nations estimates that perpetrators of the genocide raped hundreds of thousands women, including at least 250,000 women who survived. Living with the brutality of the genocide is especially harsh for these survivors. In many cases, women were intentionally infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS; at least 175,000 women are HIV positive as a result. In addition, many of them lost husbands and children in the mass slaughter.

A recent Amnesty International report, Marked for Death: Rape Survivors Living with HIV/AIDS in Rwanda, states that ten years after the genocide, "the consequences of the violence has not been dealt with adequately, neither by the international community nor by the government of Rwanda." Another new report, Rwanda - Broken Bodies, Torn Spirits: Living with Genocide, Rape and HIV/AIDS, was prepared by African Rights, a Rwandan human rights organization. The authors describe the plight of women genocide survivors with HIV in these stark terms:

"Women raped during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda lead a uniquely troubled existence… They are desperately impoverished, commonly infected with HIV/AIDS, and are responsible for several children. They see their lives as 'finished' or 'another form of martyrdom;' one woman described herself as a 'living dead person.'" The report also details the widespread discrimination these women face.

Veneranda Nyirantambara struggles to overcome the legacy of genocide, rape, and HIV. Her husband was brutally murdered in 1994 and now she is the head of an organization of people living with HIV in Kigali. "Coming together has been helpful in stopping the spiral of despair," she said. "We have hope." This group of 25 women meets at the Friends Peace House in downtown Kigali and receives support from the Evangelical Friends Church. Besides struggling to take care of themselves, the women are also mothers to 32 children of their own and 17 genocide orphans, some of whom are also HIV positive. Rwanda has one of the highest orphan rates in sub-Saharan Africa as a result of the genocide and the HIV/AIDS pandemic. "We meet to discuss our lives, what kind of diet we should have to live longer, and how to take care of HIV-infected children," Nyirantambara told us. The women also teach each other skills like sewing and basket weaving to earn money for their families.

Nyirantambara told us that she had heard about antiretroviral drugs that prolong the lives of people infected with HIV. But she said, "It's a long process to gain access to them through the government." The Rwandan government has few resources and relies upon international donors to provide life-saving medications for people living with HIV. The United Nations estimates that there are at least 500,000 Rwandans living with HIV, or 9% of the population of 8.1 million people. Approximately 430,000 infected people are between 15 and 49 years old.

Amnesty International says that as of January 2004, only about 2,000 Rwandans were being treated with antiretroviral therapies. Rwanda is one of the poorest countries in the world and only 28% of Rwandan households affected by HIV/AIDS are able to afford even basic health care, according to the UN. Both African Rights and Amnesty International have called upon the Rwandan government and the international community to support the right of all Rwandans living with HIV to treatment and counseling.

In his January 2003 State of the Union address, President Bush pledged $15 billion to assist the fight against HIV/AIDS in Africa. But he has been slow to make good on the promise. Instead of making this so-called emergency funding available right away, it was started over a year later with an insufficient $2.6 billion, with promises to disperse the rest over a five-year period. In addition, the Bush administration is attempting to block the purchase of cheaper generic HIV/AIDS drugs with this money, placing the profits of big drug companies like Pfizer and Abbott before human life.

Progressive organizations in the United States are challenging President Bush's polices. Africa Action's Africa's Right to Health campaign (www.africaaction.org) calls upon Americans to demand that the US government, the World Bank, and the International Monetary fund cancel the debt owed by African countries so that the funds can be used to address the health needs of Africans. Similarly, the Africa Initiative of the AFSC is part of Jubilee USA, a coalition of over 9,000 individuals and 60 organizations, including labor unions, faith-based organizations, AIDS advocacy groups, and fair trade organizations. Jubilee USA denounces the African debt as a new form of slavery and calls for total debt cancellation in order to free resources to meet the challenge of HIV/AIDS as well as other poverty-related health and social conditions.

In Rwanda, national groups like the Society of Women Against AIDS in Africa (SWAA) and the Association of the Widows of the Genocide of April (AVEGA) are creating communities and advocating on behalf of Rwandan women living with HIV. African Rights sees these associations as vital for Rwandan women living with HIV. "Future Hopes," the last chapter of its report, says that "across Rwanda, women's associations, especially those founded by survivors, are strengthening and demonstrating their capacity to support victims."

To learn more and to donate support, please see www.africanrights.org, PO box 3836, Kigali, Rwanda, or www.avegahome.org.rw/englishhome.htm, PO Box 1535 Kigali, Rwanda, avega@rwanda1.com.

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