|
|
|
RWANDA'S DEMISE
Rwanda's history is dominated by genocide, which has left a legacy of trauma.
Tensions between the minority Tutsi and majority ethnic group Hutu have manifested themselves in violent clashes over many decades, leading to the 1994 genocide in which Hutu militias massacred an estimated 735,000 minority Tutsi.
Tears to Smiles donated and spent £6,215 in Rwanda in 1994 - 1995, and continues to support justifyable causes.
The future of the survivors still seems bleak, because many survivors are only just starting to deal with their trauma and mourn their loved ones years all these years later after the massacre.
|
|
|
Key challenges
The genocide in 1994 has left deep psychological scars in survivors. Women were raped and as a result many children were born with killer diseases, some discovering many years later that they are HIV-positive.
Many children have no parents and have grown up looking after their young siblings while suffering a high level of trauma, because some of these children saw their parents being slaughtered in front of them, or lost their parents who died as a result of contact with HIV and AIDS.
As the conflict subsided Hutus fled the country in fear of Tutsi revenge. Some have now returned, but establishing a livelihood is hard, and ethnic tensions within Rwanda and with the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo(DRC) create uncertainty and unrest.
We are working with other relief organizations to help trauma sufferers rebuild their livelihoods through counselling.
|
A young African girl standing on a path between wheat
fields.
Locaction: Southern Rwanda, near the town of
Butare, close to the borders to DR Congo.
|
|
Home | About us | Our Work Plan | How to Help | Donations | Zimbabwe | Sierra Leone | Rwanda | UK | Sri Lanka | Privacy | Contact Info
| Charity Status | sitemap.xml |
Tears to Smiles - Reg Charity Number 1038758
+44 (0) 20 8594 7189 | tearstosmiles.org
Website © more-clix.co.uk - 2011
|
| |
