Paheja Siririka

WINDHOEK- Namibian youth have a huge impact because there is stability, they have peace,” points  out Honore Gatera who survived the 1994 Rwandan Genocide.

Gatera is the Director of the Kigali Genocide Memorial and was last week in Windhoek as guests of  The Riruako Centre for Genocide and Memory Studies and was  only 13-years-old in 1994 with the outbreak of the Rwandan genocide. “You have been accorded the opportunity to plan your life for the next 10 fifteen years, he continues in his message to the Namibian youths. ‘’Imagine you being employed and having a family, that’s great right?” he seems to wonder loudly. “Now imagine having a job and you don’t have a family because they have been wiped out by the genocide, it’s worse,” reflects he.

“Namibian youths should remain focussed on their goals and work hard in achieving whatever it is that they want because hard working is rewarding, “he advises. According to Gatera, hard work, focus and being happy with what you have is the key to success. The youth of nowadays like overnight success and mostly this doesn’t last compared to hard work. 

 “If you were in school, thought came through on whether you go back to school or not,” adds he . His main idea was to drop out of school so that he could help his surviving mother. “She was brave enough to convince me to go back to school,” Gatera says.  In 1995 he started high school and was successful for the whole years without failing or dropping out till 2001 when he completed it.  He later finished his degree in Sociology at Kigali Independent University in 2005. Going through the atrocities was never an easy thing for a 13-year-old to experience but according to Gatera, psychologically one’s inner is always stronger than she/he think.  “When you are physically weak, at certain moments, your mind works hard to raise you up so that you can do something special,” he says. 

Gatera has a mouthful to say when it comes to advice for the Namibian youth but  highlights that there is no challenge one cannot overcome.