Yolande Mukagasana

Yolande Mukagasana (born September 6, 1954) is a Rwandan writer^[1] writing in French and survivor of the Rwanda genocide against the Tutsi.^[2]

She was a Tutsi nurse and anaesthetist working at a hospital in Kigali.^[2] She fled to Belgium during the Rwandan genocide against the Tutsi; her husband, her children and many of the people she knew were killed. In Belgium, her qualifications were not recognized so she worked in a senior's residence. She later adopted some of her nieces whose parents had been killed and other Rwandan orphans.^[1]

Mukagasana returned to Rwanda with Greek-Belgian photographer Alain Kazinierakis. Together, they produced the travelling exhibition Les Blessures du silence, witness accounts of the genocide. They also founded Nyamirambo, point d'appui, an organization aimed at rebuilding. With the theatrical group Groupov, she wrote the play Rwanda 94.^[1]

She has written two autobiographical works La mort ne veut pas de moi (1997) and N'aie pas peur de savoir (1999). She has also published a collection of stories De Bouche à oreille (2003).^[2] Her first memoir La mort ne veut pas de moi was translated into English as Not My Time to Die by Zoe Norridge in 2019.

In 2002, she received the Golden Dove for Peace Prize awarded by Archivio Disarmo.^[3]

References[]

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