LILIANE Gasana

Liliane Gasana’s parents were among the toll of over one million people who lost their lives in the early days of the Genocide against the Tutsi.

Liliane went through the tragic events, when she was only 10 years old. A catholic nun found her and brought her to the then SOS Children’s Village Rwanda’s emergency program established in Ngarama (former Byumba Prefecture), which later in 1997 became SOS Children’s Village Byumba. “At SOS Children’s Village, I was blessed with a new family and a SOS Children’s Villages mother, which replaced my entire family”, she explained.

Today, Liliane is a mother of three children and recalls very well how SOS Children’s Village Byumba (Gicumbi) was established to take care of her and hundreds of children who had the same past or even those who went through worse experiences. Liliane says that SOS Children’s Village Byumba was established at the right time, when many children had lost their hope for life due to the horrific events during the Genocide against Tutsi.

We all came from different parts of the country and shared the same wounds as we were all victims of the Genocide against Tutsi, separated from our parents. Some of us had physical and emotional wounds others deep trauma that were difficult to heal. It was not easy for us to catch up with life again”, she said. “We were about 500 children in the program. SOS Children’s Village Byumba (Gicumbi) did what our parents would have done. They gave us everything children would get from their own parents, even if most of us had lost both parents, they filled the void we had from losing our biological parents”, she remembered.

She went on explaining that she and her peers quickly integrated into the SOS Children’s Villages Byumba (Gicumbi) in which they found comfort and grew up in a safe and caring environment. “We had a family with mothers and aunts who gave us good care and even the Village Director is considered as our father”, “Before going to school, our mother encouraged us to be focused at school.

This made me a strong woman and helped me do well in primary, high school and university”, she added. After completing her Masters degree at Oklahoma Christian University in Project Management, she started her own fashion shop downtown Kigali.

Liliane dedicates all her success to her caretakers at SOS Children’s Villages from whom she got the starting point into her brilliant future. “added