Clemantine Wamariya's journey: genocide survivor to rights campaigner

Just over a week ago I attended an inspirational talk by Clemantine Wamariya. Clemantine survived the Rwandan genocide and was a refugee in seven African countries. Clemantine looked like she had it all together when she got on stage but a few seconds later she was on the verge of breaking down as she told the audience “I have no idea how I got here.” A strange thing to say perhaps but her experiences still haunt her and speaking about them can be overwhelming. Clemantine started to smile again as she told us why that night was especially significant for her; it was the first time she was giving a talk to a predominantly black African audience.

  

Poster promoting the event 

I was not at all surprised when Clemantine told us that she was no different from the street kids we pass by but was puzzled when Clemantine told us she is “that girl from Chibolya.” Clemantine has been a refugee in Burundi, Congo, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa and unbeknownst to me, Zambia as well. She lived in Lusaka’s Chibolya township for a year and a half. At the time Chibolya was not the notorious drug haven it is today but it was still a tough place to live in. No one expects anything good to come out of Chibolya but Clemantine, the highly sought after speaker, human rights campaigner and Yale graduate lived there from 1998-2000.

She spoke about her childhood growing up in a middle class family. Her desires were simple; she was happy as long as she could play outside, remain queen of the mango tree in the yard and have some bubblegum to chew on. But then of course the genocide started in 1994 when she was six years old and her world was turned upside down. The words ‘genocide’ and ‘refugee’ mask so much says Clemantine. “Your whole being, your dignity is stripped away from you when you’re labelled a refugee.” When you get to a UNHCR camp you’re given an itchy blanket, a pot, food that “cuts your gut” and a tent (you may have to wait a while for this). Worst of all, there’s no protection from rape. “If you survive a month, god has been good to you,” Clemantine said.

Clemantine and her sister Claire were first refugees in Burundi but after a year and a half they moved on to Congo DR. However, after war broke out the Congo they headed to Tanzania and later Malawi. In Malawi Clemantine stayed in a refugee camp that used to be a prison and in Mozambique she and her sister were thrown into prison for entering the country illegally. Of her time spent in South Africa she said, “Life was good. We ate chicken.”

Wanting to be visible

When Clemantine escaped Rwanda she wanted to be invisible in order to avoid rape and other forms of physical violence and to avoid death. But when she arrived in Lusaka exhausted, starving and disoriented in the middle of Town Centre Market she found herself wanting to be visible once again. When she least expected it a lady handed her some ice water and a banana and she felt visible once again. Clemantine insists it wasn’t so much the water and food that mattered but more the fact that someone noticed her finally. That lady and a few others that had helped her during her time in Chibolya were in the audience sitting in the VIP section. It was heartwarming to hear Clemantine pay tribute to them.

In Chibolya she lived in a room no larger than a square metre with her sister and her sister’s two children. But she didn’t complain, “It was just life,” she said of the experience. The worst part of it all was seeing other kids in in their uniforms as they came back from school. (Clemantine had not attended school since leaving Rwanda.) Believing her parents were dead, it was also difficult for her to see other kids with their mums and dads.

A new life in the US

Clemantine and Claire cleaned houses in Durban, South Africa often with the TV on and tuned to the Oprah Winfrey Show. One day Claire declared that she and Clemantine would appear on the show, despite the sheer unlikelihood of that happening and the fact that they did not fully understand what the show was about because their English was poor. Claire was right though. In 2006 she appeared on the show with Clemantine after Clemantine won the Oprah Winfrey National High School Essay Contest that year. Clemantine and Claire were reunited with their parents after 12 years apart and met their two brothers who were born after the genocide, for the first time on the show.

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Through the assistance of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) Clemantine, Claire and Claire's children moved to the US in 2000 and Chicago has been their home ever since. However, Clemantine noted that the transition wasn’t easy and when you’re told you’ll be moving, no one ever tells you some things are better in your home country or in your home continent. Clemantine's parents and brother have also relocated to Chicago. 

Ever a pessimist, I struggled to understand how Clemantine managed to remain so positive after what she went through. Importantly, Clemantine doesn't seek people's pity nor does she define herself as as victim. She also refused to let her self be limited by her past. She summarises her life’s philosophy with the abbreviation ICU which stands for Inspire, Connect and Uplift and surely everyone in the audience would agree she did all this on the night of her talk.



The Clemantine Wamariya scholarship

Thompson Rivers University in Canada has teamed up with DPMC International to sponsor the Clemantine Wamariya Master of Education Scholarship. One lucky (African) student a year will be awarded a full scholarship under this new annual programme.