Exclusive: Felicite Rwemarika, the refugee who became a pioneer for women’s sport in Rwanda

Episode 1.     

Producers:       

Bianca Roberts and Ciaran OMahony                                                                               

Narrator:           

Bianca Roberts                                                                                             

With thanks to Felicite Rwemarika, Grace Nyinawumuntu and Professor Holly Thorpe             

Music:     

Aftershine, by Tea Time  https://www.shutterstock.com/music/track-513053-after-shine         

A Spark Inside, by Tea Time https://www.shutterstock.com/music/track-527213-a-spark-inside,         

Gushayaya, by Germain92 Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0,         


This week, we spoke to Felicite Rwemarika, a former refugee who started Rwanda's first women's football program to help them overcome the trauma of genocide and pursue gender equality. This social enterprise began after Rwemarika opened a salon in Kigali, where she witnessed the shocking trauma carried by female survivors of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide. She soon realised that the salon was a place where women could express their grief and relate to each other’s suffering, a realisation that bred a determination to facilitate this healing on a larger scale, through football.

Subsequent interviews with Grace Nyinawumuntu - Rwanda's first ever female professional football referee and coach - and Professor Holly Thorpe, illustrate the significant impact of this program.

Links
 
Shattered lives: Sexual violence during the Rwandan genocide and its aftermath - https://www.hrw.org/report/1996/09/24/shattered-lives/sexual-violence-during-rwandan-genocide-and-its-aftermath

Rwanda 25 years on, solidarity with victims - https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/04/04/rwanda-25-years-solidarity-victims

University of Minnesota, Holocaust and Genocide Studies page - https://cla.umn.edu/chgs/holocaust-genocide-education/resource-guides/rwanda

Women After the Rwandan Genocide: Making the Most of Survival - https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1164&context=cisr-journal

"Marked for death", rape survivors living with HIV/AIDS in Rwanda - https://www.refworld.org/docid/4129fd524.html

For more information about AKWOS

https://akwosrwanda.org/