We held a Special Speaker evening on Thursday 16th May at 7.30pm marking the 30th anniversary of the Genocide in Rwanda. The event was hosted at the Church of Christ - Scientist in Bedford, with our guest speaker Maria Chantal Uwamahoro.
Chantal is a mother, a social worker by profession and a genocide survivor of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.
She was born in Rwanda - A country that had over one million Tutsi being massacred in a period of hundred days. She has been living in the UK for the past 29 years and currently lives in Bedford. She witnessed and experienced the violence during the genocide and lost 5 siblings and over 50 members from her immediate family.
Chantal currently shares her testimony through storytelling in various places including schools, government departments and local councils to raise awareness about the genocides and to preserve memories. She also advocates for the survivors to stand against genocide denials, all form of discrimination and hatred.
Chantal was featured and took part in various programmes and worked closely with Echo Eternal to create material for using at some schools for teaching the Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda. She has also presented at The Higgins in Bedford to mark refugee week, on Sky News, BBC radio 4 and the Holocaust Memorial Trust.
Her story can be found here : https://www.hmd.org.uk/resource/marie-chantal-uwamahoro