Rugeshi Hill, Where Humanity was Buried

Apollinaire Munyaneza was born and raised in Nyabihu District in Rwanda's Western Province. The 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi claimed the lives of most of his immediate family, both parents, a brother, and five sisters, not to mention hundreds of extended family members who lived on Rugeshi Hill. His family endured targeted violence as early as 1990, largely because the Western Province was home to key architects of the Genocide, both civilians and high-ranking military officials.

In this memoir, Apollinaire shares compelling accounts of the horrors his family endured, as well as evidence that the Genocide was not a spontaneous eruption of anger, but a meticulously planned, state-orchestrated atrocity. Despite surviving the unthinkable, he found the strength to rebuild his life with resilience. For him, survival is not just a reminder of how humanity can be lost under bad leadership, it is also a responsibility.

During the period between April and July 1994, Apollinaire's family endured targeted violence amounting to the acts of Genocide since 1990, largely because the Western Province was home to key architects of the Genocide — civilians as well as high-ranking military officials.

Today, the hills of Rugeshi stand as silent witnesses to what transpired. For Apollinaire, writing this memoir was not only an act of personal reckoning — it was a moral imperative. The world must know. The truth must endure.