Consolee Nishimwe

"My feelings of pain and suffering now have also become a way of helping other people and a big part of helping society in general. So, it was not easy. But I’m glad that I never gave up. I persisted and pushed myself to become stronger than before."

"It takes a long time to express how we feel. I am trying to show the other survivors that we need to express that pain we have."

"Physical violence happened to me, and also living with HIV as a result of that, it’s something I will never forget—that will never go anywhere, that I have to live with."

"“I wanted to be in a place where I can start a new life, I needed to start a new life in a place where I’ve never experienced what I’ve experienced. At that time, it was for me to start a new life, through a journey of healing. Leaving Rwanda was easy for me because of the trauma experiences I have had. So I felt like I needed to be in a different place. It happened to be that I came to America because my cousin was here."

"And some of us live with the consequences because of what we’ve been through during the genocide."

"There are women survivors who are not able to share their stories. I have been able to help them, when it came to helping those who were raped, share their stories which is something they had not been able to talk about."

"What happened in one day can happen anywhere, and people should be aware of [this], because it’s not something that happens overnight."

"I am part of making people be aware of how genocide can happen, so. And if we are aware, we can make sure we prevent that from happening again."

"My lesson to all is that no matter what horrible circumstance we may face in our lives, we must never lose hope, for losing hope is the beginning of our own self defeat."

"I survived for a reason."

"There’s a mantra that I live with. No matter what horrible circumstances you may face in your life, never lose hope."

"Losing hope is the beginning of your own self-defeat."

"It is my duty to tell what happened so the world will not forget. . . That’s my way of making sure that the history is not forgotten."

"Genocide doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a process. There are so many stages."

"Rape is a weapon of the genocide."

"For me, to share is so I encourage my fellow survivors to share their story. I want to be a part of helping - making sure the history of my family is told."

"I want to make sure that the world knows what we’ve been through, the suffering we’ve been through, and how we overcame."

"I want to make sure that those that are no longer here - their voices, their lives, their names . . . are alive. They were alive. They existed. . . My duty is to make sure that what happened is heard."

"It was important for me to never give up on life. There is a reason why I am alive. I have a purpose. That is why I am here talking to you ."

"My life matters. . . No matter what you’ve been through, you should never give up. Never lose hope."

"Therefore, Rwanda used the gacaca system, “a traditional justice system that was used before to reconcile families. People come together in the community to reconcile."

"The international community was watching what was happening but they were not intervening which was very sad for me to see."

"The genocide in Rwanda was preventable if the international community had intervened."

"Words matter. Words have power. We saw in Rwanda, it [the genocide] started from words."

"Whenever you see injustice happening, you must speak out."

"Do something. . . Be aware. . . Learn from history. It can happen anywhere."

"In our culture, we don’t talk a lot about experiences."

"I have some days where I just sit down and cry. It’s not like everything is perfect all the time."