7th April 2020

Today is the start of the Genocide against the Tutsis Memorial Week and is a bank holiday.  People would normally meet up in villages and districts to listen to talks, and to discuss the impact and memory of the genocide.  Due to C-19, all talks and discussions are on TV and radio.

Last night my landlady had spoken to me about her belief in God and how it helped her to overcome difficulties that she had experienced in the aftermath of the genocide.  We try to find some common ground in our beliefs, I tell her I believe that the universe supports us, whatever that may be; she sees God more as a person. She tells me how her faith helped her in the aftermath of the genocide, when her oldest child was only one year old and she and her husband took on eight orphans and welcomed them into their family; they were all emotionally scarred and difficult but they put them all through private school and then university and they are now doing well.

I read that the there is going to be access to mental health support for genocide survivors and other Rwandans, from the confines of their home.  There are trained mental health teams in every district who will reach out with support by phone for those who are affected by trauma.

I also read that six people and a bar owner have been arrested for drinking together in a bar that shouldn’t be open. One of the people is a village chief who immediately resigns.  The bar owner was fined the equivalent of £45, and the others £8.50.

There are no new cases of C-19 in Rwanda today.

Boris Johnson has been moved to intensive care.