Peace and Values Education

Peace and Values Education (PVE) began at the Kigali Genocide Memorial in 2008 before integrating with Rwanda’s national curriculum in 2016. The curriculum utilizes story-telling methodology to teach Rwandan history, genocide studies, and peacebuilding.

RWANDAN HISTORY

Lesson 1: Historical Context

Created by Leigh-Anne Hendrick

  • Introduction

    • Begin with a brief overview of the definition of genocide and its historical occurrences.

    • Introduce Rwanda using a map (see page 4 of the Rwanda Basics document) and discuss its location in Africa.

  • Pre-Colonial Rwanda

    • Divide students into groups.

    • Assign each group a specific aspect of pre-colonial Rwandan society to research using the provided document and additional resources:

      • Group 1: Migration Theories and Early Society: Understand the theories of ethnic migration regarding the initial settlement of Rwanda, and discuss how the concept of “nativism” led to tensions between groups. (See page 6 of the Rwanda Basics document for Bantu Migration)

      • Group 2: Social Structure: Investigate the traditional social structure, including the roles of the Tutsi, Hutu, and Twa. (See page 7 of the Rwanda Basics document for the groups in Rwanda)

      • Group 3: Ubuhake: Research the Ubuhake system. (See page 8 of the Rwanda Basics document)

    • Groups will share their findings with the class.

  • Colonial Influence

    • Explain the impact of European colonization on Rwanda, focusing on the German and Belgian periods.

    • Use the provided document to guide the discussion:

      • German Colonization: Discuss the Berlin Conference, the Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty, and German indirect rule. (See pages 9, 10, and 11 of the Rwanda Basics document)

      • Belgian Colonization: Explain the Mandate System, eugenics, and plantation quotas. (See page 12 of the Rwanda Basics document)

    • Emphasize how colonial policies exacerbated ethnic divisions and created a racial hierarchy.

  • Discussion

    • Discuss how the colonial legacy contributed to social stratification and ethnic tensions in Rwanda.

1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda

The 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda was a three month period between April and July, 1994, in which one million people – primarily Tutsi and political moderates – were killed and a quarter of a million people were sexually assaulted by Hutu extremists.

Testimony Activity

Ask your students to identify a lesson they learned from each of the following stories.

Survivor: Immaculée Ilibagiza

  • A survivor is a member of a targeted group who lives through a genocide.

  • Immaculée Ilibagiza is a Tutsi survivor who lived through the 1994 Genocide.

  • The Rwandan Ministry of Social Affairs and IBUKA estimate that there are between 300,000 to 400,000 survivors of the Genocide Against the Tutsi.

Rescuer: Grace Uwamahoro

  • A rescuer is a person who saves the life of a member of a targeted group during a genocide. Similarly, an upstander is a person who “stands up” against genocide. They do not participate in genocidal acts; they actively resist them.

  • Grace Uwamahoro was a 10-year-old Hutu girl who saved the life of Vanessa Uwase, a Tutsi baby, during the 1994 Genocide.

  • Rescuing poses many risks to the individuals involved due to the constant threat of being caught. For this reason, it is often rare for a person to be a rescuer.

Witness: Edouard Bamporiki

  • A witness is a person who sees a genocide taking place around them. Another type of witness is a bystander, a person who “stands by” during a genocide. They do not participate in genocidal acts nor do they actively resist them.

  • Edouard Bamporiki was a 10-year-old Hutu boy who witnessed the 1994 Genocide.

  • During a genocide, one of the largest demographics are witnesses or bystanders.

Perpetrator: Jean de Dieu Twahirwa

  • A perpetrator is a person who participates in genocidal acts.

  • Jean de Dieu Twahirwa is a Hutu man who participated in the 1994 Genocide.

  • The United Nations estimates that more than 120,000 people committed genociderelated crimes during the Genocide Against the Tutsi.

The Continuum of Violence

United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide: Article II

In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethical, racial or religious group, as such:

  • (f) Killing members of the group;

  • (g) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

  • (h) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about it's physical destruction in whole or in part;

  • (i) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;

  • (j) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

How do ordinary people become perpetrators?

Continuum of Violence Activity

1.Watch Choosing Cruelty: The Psychology of Perpetrators

2.Split into groups and match ten terms of the Continuum of Violence with their definitions.

3.Discuss parallels between the Continuum of Violence and (historical or current) events in Germany, Rwanda, or the United States.

Consequences of Genocide

Personal

  • Physical disabilities: loss of limbs, paralysis, head injuries

  • Malnutrition; chronic pain

  • Sensorial disabilities: sight, hearing

  • Emotional fragility

  • Chronic grief (traumatic)

  • Anxiety, depression

  • Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), (witness of traumatic events)

  • Illness: infected wounds, increase of malaria, HIV/AIDS

  • Aftermath of rape: children born from rape (approx. 5000)

  • Stigmatized women and children. Loss of dignity, aversion to men

  • Loss of close relatives

  • Personality change and behavioral problems in adults and children

  • Excessive drinking that was not present before the genocide, and excessive aggression and irritability directed to anybody

  • Increase of domestic violence, abused children

  • Group of descendants with PTSD

  • Resentment (all groups)

  • Many face psychological stress of anticipating the recurrence of the mass slaughter

  • The stress and fear of reprisals

Socio-Economic

  • High number of orphans and widows

  • Child-headed households

  • Unfinished education for many young adults

  • Survivors have to find people who can stand-in for the dead parents

  • Lack of employable skills

  • Economic loss for families, loss of possessions, homes, lands

  • Entire families and extended families completely wiped out

  • Not having a chance to bury their relatives or perform mourning ceremonies

  • People fled or were displaced, many families lost connection with their relatives

  • Shame and guilt among family members of perpetrators

  • Mutual victimization and climate of mistrust

  • Survivors are targets of harassment and taunting

National

  • Destruction of past institutions

  • Loss of professional competencies

  • High demand and cost for judicial system, and the Gacaca courts; so many perpetrators

  • Difficulty in delivering “justice”

  • High numbers of prisoners in jail

  • Social and psychological problems, which hinder national unity and reconciliation

  • Reconciliation requires healing and justice – a huge challenge

  • Survivors’ desire for justice – and facing fact that they may never see justice

  • Rights of land conflict (return refugees)

  • Deforestation from national settlement policy and energy demands of households

  • Environmental degradation: mass immigration and need for housing means less farming and agricultural land

International

  • Tension with neighboring countries

  • Denial: double genocide/negationism

  • Suspicion about security – conflict from Rwandan diaspora

  • International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda

  • International criticism of efforts to stabilize and bring justice

  • Failure of international community

The Continuum of Benevolence

Continuum of Benevolence Activity

1.Watch “Albert’s Story: The Power of Forgiveness” with your students.

2.Hand out slips of paper with one of the ten stages of the Continuum of Benevolence.

3.Ask your students to identify where in the story their stage correlates to.

Please refer back to the workbook for more information and activities.

Content warning: Image of a mass grave.

Refer to the Guidebook for Story Based Learning