Sunday, April 7 will mark 30 years since the start of the horrifying genocide in Rwanda.
Over three months, the Tutsi ethnic minority were massacred by organized Hutu militias. It’s estimated that 800,000 Tutsis died. Hundreds of thousands survived, many with serious injuries and disfigurement, and all with trauma from family and community loss of those 100 days. Other groups, including moderate Hutus and indigenous Twa people, were also slaughtered by the militia – many for trying to help protect Tutsi friends and family.
The world watched in horror but did little to intervene.
Among the survivors of that genocide is a man called Emmanuel Turaturanye, who moved to the U.S. and made his home here. His life story is told in the new book, “I Lived to Tell the World” by Elizabeth Mehren, who spoke to host Deepa Fernandes earlier this week about the book. Now, Turaturanye joins Fernandes to share more from his story.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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