Rwandan was a pillar in the survivor community

We are saddened at the recent death of Emmanuel Ndashimye, a survivor of the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi, whose testimony is in the Institute’s Visual History Archive.

Born in 1957 in Burera, Northern Province, Rwanda, Ndashimye was a small child when he and his parents were forced to leave their home village because of Tutsi persecution. The family, along with many of their village’s other residents, moved to an area of dense forest, where many of them died of hunger and disease.

During the genocide, Ndashimye hid in swamps and other places, and later became a fighter. He lost nearly his entire family, including his pregnant wife. Only one of his three children survived.

He remarried in 2000 and had two other children. What saddened him most was not knowing where his family was killed and his inability to bury them. He was a man of strong character and he was a key pillar in the survivor community.

In this clip of his testimony, he talks about three times he came close to death during the genocide, but somehow managed to survive.