KABASINGA Chantal President of AVEGA AGAHOZO

In 1994, Rwanda was shattered by 100 days of horror that left more than a million people dead. The survivors were left wounded, both physically and mentally, trying to piece together their lives again. In 1995, fifty genocide widows formed AVEGA Agahazo, the Association of the Widows of Rwanda. AVEGA is a non-profit organization that aims to bring hope to widows, orphans, parents who lost their children, the elderly and the handicapped. AVEGA offers comfort to women who live in an abyss of sorrow.

AVEGA’s members have become a mountain of courage, a miracle of survival and endurance. However, grave problems remain for the women and orphans of AVEGA. Many widows are still trapped in trauma, unable to rejoin the daily life of those around them. Others suffer from homelessness, unable to reclaim their lost property. Widows are encouraged to form cooperatives to develop themselves economically with the assistance of AVEGA. AVEGA also helps women to live with the burden of HIV/AIDS, too often the result of rape during the genocide.

Today we have administration centres in all four corners of Rwanda and have many successes thanks to our supporters. In the aftermath of the genocide, we were just 50 people; today we are over 25,000 people. To continue our work, AVEGA undertakes projects in four main areas: Psychological and Medical Care, Justice and Advocacy, Economics, Social Operations and Institutional capacity building.