Ways of living and survival by children born out of rape during genocide — Adelite Mukamana

During the Rwandan genocide in 1994, rape was used systematically as a weapon of war and a means of genocide. Many children were born as a result. Now young adults, these children have faced significant stigma and ongoing hardships. Using a narrative framework developed for receiving and documenting testimonies of trauma, this paper presents the stories of five children born of rape following the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. It documents some of the ongoing effects of the genocide, the hardships these young people have faced, both within their families and in the broader society, how they have survived, and their hopes and commitments for the future.