Felin Gakwaya

And yet, alongside the people who murdered, there were also others who hid and protected his family.

When I returned from Burundi, I found that Muruga Thama's family had hidden my children, and they survived.

I went with the soldiers and brought back all four children.

I had eight children.

Only four survived.

So for Daniel, the road to forgiveness did not begin with forgetting what had been done.

It began with something else.

The knowledge that even in the middle of the killing, some people chose to save life.

When we returned to Rwanda,

and reunited with our families.

We realized not everyone was bad.

We also had good preachers who taught us to forgive.

They taught us that those who shed blood will face consequences.

Because we had realized that some people had done good by saving lives, while others had committed evil, we decided to forgive publicly.

We refused to take revenge by shedding blood, as they had done.

Let me ask you, was forgiveness your own choice, or was it because the president asked, or it was by pressure?

No, there was no pressure to forgive.

Whoever forgave did so willingly, without coercion.

Forgiveness came from our hearts.

That spirit came from the religious teachings you received.