Title : 'Beyond words': Family torn apart by Rwandan genocide reunite in Canada
link : 'Beyond words': Family torn apart by Rwandan genocide reunite in Canada
'Beyond words': Family torn apart by Rwandan genocide reunite in Canada
CTVNews.ca Staff, with reports from John Vennavally-Rao and John Musselman
Published Friday, April 5, 2019 10:00PM EDT
Debbie Assimwe had a tearful reunion with members of her family on Friday, 25 years after they were torn apart during the bloody Rwandan civil war that left 800,000 dead.
Assimwe survived the Rwandan genocide in 1994 but her parents and eight of her 10 siblings did not. In 2008, she and her daughter immigrated to London, Ont., to begin their new life.
Her brother Robert survived the genocide but his wife was killed. So when he died a decade later, his death effectively orphaned his four children.
For the past 10 years, it became Assimwe’s mission to adopt and bring them to Canada.
On Friday, she was reunited with her orphaned nieces and nephew at Toronto Pearson International Airport.
“My heart is so joyful. These are tears of joy,” she told CTV News, saying the reunion felt like a dream come true. “'Being here, it’s something amazing. It's a miracle.
"I remember my brother and I’m sure he's celebrating right now,” she said. As Assimwe clutched her nieces and nephew, they all shed tears of joy. Her nephew Sailas Bahati had few words.
"It is beyond words. It is a miracle,” he told CTV Toronto. His sister Peace said this reunion was her “everything.”
It’s been nearly 25 years to the day when the Rwandan government effectively orchestrated the slaughter of the Tutsi minority in the country. Nearly all of Assimwe’s family was murdered.
“I lost everything,” Assimwe told CTV News, saying if she survived there had to be a reason. She said that reason was to one day care for her brother’s children.
She spent a decade, raising money, filling out immigration paperwork and acquiring her relatives’ visas. Assimwe was helped by her friends in London, Ont., including Lynda Barber.
"I was broken when I heard her story [about] how she lost family in the genocide,” she told CTV News. "They are adults now [but now they can] leave that trauma behind."
With Assimwe’s reunion taking place on the eve of the grim 25-year anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, Assimwe said she was overcome with emotion.
"It means a lot. It means that their life has begun again and now we are family,” she said.
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