Healing Others, Healing Myself
In October 2024, Zacharie Dusingizimana spoke at the international conference for Inclusive Social Development at the Goetheanum. He told of the great pain that still characterizes his home country, Rwanda, and how we learn to heal by asking the right questions.
At the heart of Rudolf Steiner’s work is the question of freedom: How do I become a free human being, able to live and act out of who I truly am? How do I find the source for what I do in the deepest core of my own being? How can I go beyond the thoughts and patterns imprinted in my body, in my habits, in the society around me, and find my true, original self? Inclusive social development is also about just that.
I am from Rwanda, in Central East Africa, and I want to tell you part of my story: What led me to be here today, as the co-founder and director of Ubumwe Community Center, and as a human being on a journey of healing others and healing myself.
Thirty years ago, I was 17 years old and coming home for the Easter holidays from the boarding school I was attending. I didn’t know that this was going to be the beginning of a new life, in a new world, and with new people. I was born into a very modest family. My father was an artist, carving wooden sculptures, and my mother was a homemaker. We were living a peaceful life, very proud and thankful for what we had. I was one of six siblings, two boys and four girls. At the time, three were living far away while the rest of us were at home, including myself.
On the morning of April 7, 1994, we heard on the radio that the President of Rwanda had been killed in an airplane that was shot down as it was landing in Kigali, the capital city. It was not very clear what was happening—the only news we could get was from the radio, and the radio only repeated the message that everyone was to stay at home. I could see our parents and neighbors gather in small groups, but could not imagine what was going on, or what would happen after that. A few days later, we started to see houses burning all around us, in all the surrounding villages, and I could hear the loud shouting of many people, running, searching for a place to hide. This is how the genocide against the Tutsi started in my village.
This text is an excerpt from an article published in the (online exclusive) Goetheanum Weekly. You can read the full article on the website. If you are not yet a subscriber, you can get to know the Goetheanum Weekly for 1 CHF./€.
Images Impressions from the Ubumwe Community Center in Gisenyi, Rwanda