The Aegis Trust today concluded a Peace and Values Education workshop for parents at the Kigali Community Peace Centre, which is located at the Kigali Genocide Memorial. The two-day training focused on equipping parents with essential skills to discuss the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi with their children and build peaceful family environments.
The workshop addressed one of the most challenging consequences of genocide; the difficulty Rwandan parents face in discussing their experiences with their children. Using storytelling methodology and practical examples, facilitators guided participants through exercises designed to develop critical thinking, empathy, personal responsibility and trust.
“What we witnessed over these two days was parents moving from silence to confident engagement,” noted a workshop facilitator. “Many arrived uncertain about how to address difficult questions from their children about Rwanda’s history, and left with practical approaches tailored to their family situations.”
Through storytelling, dialogue and interactive sessions, the comprehensive curriculum included the Pathways to Violence and Peace, consequences of the Genocide against the Tutsi, raising children with positive values and discipline, conflict resolution strategies, gender equality in the home, and trauma healing approaches. Interactive sessions allowed participants to practice these skills in a supportive environment.
“I’m going to ask for forgiveness”
Assumpta Nsengimana, one of the parents who took part in today’s training, discussed its impact on her thinking, and how she is not going to make a change in her family as a result: “After I got married, I discovered that my sister-in-law had been imprisoned for genocide ideology. Later she was released, but I had already grown to hate her deeply because of what she did and what she said about me. I made the decision to turn the family against her, and I succeeded. However, after the lessons we’ve learned, I now realize that what I was doing wasn’t right. I’m going to approach her and ask for forgiveness. I know this will surprise her, and others, because I feel I was wrong. I will play a role in bringing her back into the family so she can feel like one of us again.”
This workshop was part of the ASPIRE program (Action for Sustainable Peace, Inclusion, Rights & Equality), a collaborative initiative between the Aegis Trust, Interpeace, Radio La Benevolencija, and Never Again Rwanda. The programme addresses challenges identified by the National Unity and Reconciliation Commission including ethnic prejudice, intergenerational trauma, domestic violence and economic disparities.
The training in Kigali represents one component of the Aegis Trust’s commitment to train 600 parents across three Community Peace Centres in Kigali, Nyagatare and Huye. As primary caregivers and first teachers in a child’s life, parents play a crucial role in shaping values and social-emotional skills that contribute to sustainable peace.
Additional parent workshops are scheduled throughout the year, with the next sessions planned for Huye and Nyagatare Community Peace Centres.
