Damas Gisimba Mutezintare, a hero who saved the lives of more than 400 people, mostly children, during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, was laid to rest on Saturday, June 10.
Hundreds of people attended his burial ceremony. Gisimba passed away aged 62, on June 4.
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His requeim mass was held at his church, St Karoli Lwanga Catholic parish in Nyamirambo, where many people prayed for him before he was later buried at the cemetery in Rusororo.
During the mass, Julienne Uwacu, the second vice chairperson of Unity Club Intwararumuri, an organisation that brings together current and former cabinet ministers and their spouses, eulogised Gisimba as a man who embodied the values of humanity, and a man of integrity who, among others, hated injustice.
She said: "He played a very important role at a time when our nation was filled with divisionism. He fought against disunity and especially rescued more than 400 people during the Genocide against the Tutsi, at his orphanage, the Gisimba Memorial Centre."
After the 1994 Genocide, Uwacu noted, Gisimba, through the Memorial that he managed, continued to play a vital role in the country's unity and reconciliation path. He continued to cater for many orphans and preach and practice unity.
"We shall, all together, continue to uphold his legacy. Unity Club will forever uphold his good deeds," she said.
Gisimba was the Director of the Gisimba Memorial Center, a former orphanage in the Nyamirambo suburbs of Kigali where, 29 years ago, he, against huge odds, hid and rescued hundreds of orphans at the height of the 1994 Genocide.
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He was commended for hiding up to 405 people, many of them children, during the genocide at an orphanage he ran in Nyamirambo.
"He was a hero who loved people, and his family," said late Gisimba's wife, Beatrice Mukandanga. She was heartbroken, but strong, and managed to speak about his life, and especially his selflessness, and love, not only to others but also as a husband and a father to so many.
She remembered his strength during his illnesses and how he never wanted to burden anyone. A tearful Mukandanga pledged to carry on her husband's legacy.
During the 1994 genocide, Gisimba often had to venture outside the orphanage and face off with Interahamwe attackers while she, and some other mothers who had taken refuge in the compound with their babies, would attend to the babies without mothers and other small children. Since the other women were new in the area and very frightened Mukandanga was the one largely in charge. When the babies became many - there were about 40 babies - she devised means to ensure they do not become dehydrated. Among others, Mukandanga would mix salt and sugar in boiled water and give the babies.
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"I lived with young children at the orphanage. I didn't abandon him. God stayed with us and we overcame. He was a good husband and I endeavoured to support him in his calling. I thank God that he was successful," Mukandanga said, sobbing.
Gisimba was awarded the Presidential Order of Umurinzi (protector) in recognition of his actions during the 1994 Genocide.
Gisimba who catered for more than 2,000 children, had been living with hypertension and kidney problems for the last years of his life. He died at his home in Kigali on June 4.
In addition to the hundreds of orphans that he took in and cated for, and considered as his own children, Gisimba is survived by his wife, Beatrice, his biological sons Patrick, Cedrick and Bertrand, and a daughter, Benita.
