What can be done after a genocide? How do people and societies recover?

I can't pretend to know, but it seems all that can be done is to continue living by small acts of peace and kindness. Somehow, hopefully eventually, the darkness of the past will fade. 

Foundation Rwanda - Survivor, Uweru, and her son Francoise

The numbers of The Rwandan Genocide are horrific: around 800,000 killed and up to 500,000 raped over 100 days. 

Yet, the neutrality of numbers can never convey the true scale of horror. Outsiders will never know what it was like during those weeks and months when murder and violence ravaged the country.

Through rape, 20,000 children were born.

Foundation Rwanda - Survivor, Rose, with her daughter Claudine

These children never knew the genocide themselves but they are symbols of it, their mothers forever affected. Giving them a path to a peaceful life is perhaps the greatest transition that can happen in Rwanda.

And that's what Foundation Rwanda is trying to do. They're fulfilling the primary wish of the mothers: to give the children an education, to turn hate and ignorance into love and understanding. 

Foundation Rwanda - Survivor, Josette, with her son Thomas

Going to school in Rwanda is challenging. Many people live on less than $1.25 USD a day and school fees often exceed what is left over after basic necessities are bought. 

While the government provided free schooling to kids who lived through the genocide, those who were born of it are not covered. In fact, many children of rape were seen as extensions of the viciously genocidal men and were therefore ostracized. 

Foundation Rwanda has tried to fix this by covering all educational expenses for the children. So far, 850 children have been able to go to secondary school. 

Foundation Rwanda - Survivor, Annete, with her son Peter

The video above illustrates the optimism that Foundation Rwanda has fostered. Young boys and girls draw and color unabashedly and with hope.  

Mahinimama (14) shares her favorite foods (beans, Irish potatos and bananas) and her favorite colors (yellow, blue and green). Her best subject is math and she wants to become a nurse. 

Fabrise (15) drew a house that he wants to live in when he gets older. 

Mischanil hopes for a future with no problems. They all hope for peace. 

Foundation Rwanda goes beyond instilling hope and nourishing creativity in the children. They also recognize the urgency of helping the mothers heal, and do this by providing psychosocial services and employment opportunities. 

Foundation Rwanda - Survivor, Clare, with her daughter Elisabeth

Finally, the foundation helps women share their stories to spread awareness and compassion. Various media initaitives convey the consequences of sexual violence. 

Most of the children from the genocide are now adults. In the years ahead, it will be up to them to guide Rwanda towards a peaceful future.