{"id":38414,"date":"2018-10-27T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-10-27T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/kagame-lauds-awarded-protectors-of-friendship\/"},"modified":"2018-10-28T13:36:04","modified_gmt":"2018-10-28T13:36:04","slug":"kagame-lauds-awarded-protectors-of-friendship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/kagame-lauds-awarded-protectors-of-friendship\/","title":{"rendered":"Kagame lauds awarded protectors of friendship pact, Abarinzi b\u2019Igihango"},"content":{"rendered":"

The four awarded include Cyprien Rugamba, Bishop C\u00e9lestin Hakizimana, Doroth\u00e9e Mukandanga and the Association of Rwandan Students Survivors of the Genocide (AERG) who were awarded Friday night marking the end day of the 11th Unity Club Forum at Kigali Convention Centre. <\/p>\n

Names of the four Protectors of Friendship pact were read out by the President of the National Unity and Reconciliation Commission, Bishop John Rucyahana who spoke of acts of valor done by each one of them.<\/p>\n

Bishop Rucyahana explained, that to be recognized as the protector of friendship pact, considered is the role one has had in the fight against the divisions and the genocide ideology. He said awarding them is to recognize and value their acts and also valorize the \u2018Ndi Umunyarwanda\u2019 program.<\/p>\n

Among the awarded on Friday is Cyprien Rugamba, an author and songwriter who was killed with his wife and their six children by the then-presidential guards, on April 7, 1994. His award was received by his first son, Olivier Rugamba.<\/p>\n

Cyprien Rugamba, through his artworks (30 books and over 150 songs he wrote) argued Rwandans on values of the Rwandan culture, hard work, and unity.<\/p>\n

Rugamba dared to request that the ethics should be removed from the identity cards and asked for the banning of hate media houses which operated in Rwanda prior to genocide including RTLM (Radio Television des Milles Collines).<\/p>\n

Also awarded is Sister Doroth\u00e9e Mukandanga who was represented by the Bishop of Kabgayi Catholic Diocese, Smaragde Mbonyintege.<\/p>\n

Killed during the 1994 genocide, Doroth\u00e9e Mukandanga is recognized for having protected 50 students who had remained at Ecole des Sciences Infirmieres de Kabgayi, a nursing school she headed, from Interahamwe militias who wanted to rape and kill them.<\/p>\n

In the night of May 12, 1994, alerted by the school guard, Mukandanga intervened and stopped the soldiers and the militias from killing her students. Realizing that they failed to achieve their plot, the killers took her to her office house where they killed her.<\/p>\n

Bishop C\u00e9lestin Hakizimana is recognized for having saving protected over 2000 Tutsis who had taken refuge at St Paul Parish Chapel at Sainte Famille Parish in Kigali City. <\/p>\n

Hakizimana had to offer money to the Interahamwe militias so that they should not kill the Tutsi who he also he provided with shelter, food and drinking water.<\/p>\n

AERG Foundation is recognized for having sought and found solutions for problems of caused the 1994 genocide that faced the survivor students.<\/p>\n

The problems included the lack of homes for students who used to stay at schools in holidays, trauma and depression. The organization was commended for having become as a family to them and restored their hope for their lives in the future. <\/p>\n

Speaking on behalf of the awarded, Bishop Hakizimana, thanking Unity Club and NURC, said that according to the masses killed in the genocide, they didn\u2019t deserve the recognition because they did nothing extraordinary.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever was done was not due to human power, it is only God who enabled us. Praised be the Lord God. We humans should just be humble,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Bishop Hakizimana further thanked his parents who brought him up and never taught him divisions, the priests and those with whom they lived together at St Paul Centre at Sainte Famille Parish for everyone\u2019s role played in saving lives of those who had taken refuge there. <\/p>\n

Thanking the protectors of a friendship of pact in general, President Paul Kagame thanked Bishop Hakizimana who refused to leave the refugees that they should not be killed until his parents were buried in his absence.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose who were awarded tonight demonstrated what it means to value the life of others. They put their life on the line to rescue fellow human beings,\u201d Kagame said, emphasizing that \u201cNo one has the ability to choose who they are born as. But it is up to us to define our values, to treat each other as equals and to use our individual strengths to work together for our mutual benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the Rwandan identity, President Kagame said \u201cOur identity is filled with values and dignity\u201d and asked, \u201cWhat is the meaning of being Rwandan? What is your answer when asked, so what if you are Rwandan? What are you contributing?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cIf you have nothing to contribute, your identity becomes meaningless,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Kagame,<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Paul Kagame has lauded the four new \u201cProtectors of Friendship Pact -\u2018Abarinzi b\u2019Igihango\u2019 for their outstanding acts of courage and humanity displayed during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi and in instilling unity and reconciliation among Rwandans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[69],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-38414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-homehighlights","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38414"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38414\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38414"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=38414"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=38414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}