Sociotherapy took me out of my solitude.

I am fifty-eight years old. I have been a widow since 1995. Because of the ethnic conflicts that reigned in Rwanda over a period of many years, I grew up and lived in different neighbouring countries. I returned to Rwanda in 1992, at the age of thirty-eight. I was born into a family of six children, four of whom died during the genocide. Only one sister and I are still alive. I married my husband in 1968 when I was fourteen years old. We had seven children together. Four are alive, the three others died during the genocide. In the 1963 war, when I was nine years old, our family fled to Burundi. This war followed previous wars that took place in 1959 and in 1962. We fled this time because our house was destroyed and most of the members of my extended family were murdered. In 1974, my parents and some siblings went back to Rwanda because the country was peaceful. My husband did not want us to go back with them. Instead, we took refuge in Uganda. Life in Uganda was very bad for me. First of all, my mother-in-law was wicked to me. She used to beat me and her other daughters in law. I was still very young, unable to take decisions. I disliked Uganda because I suffered a lot. I looked after the cows, even during heavy rains or under strong sun. I did not feel happy. In contrast, I had had a good life as a child. I had lived with my family in a nice house and a peaceful environment. I did not want to stay in Uganda, but I could not leave my children. I had a tense, stressful life until I came back to Rwanda with my children in 1992. Just after we had returned, the 1992 genocide happened. Perpetrators burned our houses. We ran off to the Nyamata Catholic Church and a week later went back to our ruined houses. I expected mass killings to happen, but could not picture it in my mind. I did expect it, for instance, when soldiers came to our house and started messing up our stored sorghum and beans, saying that they were searching for guns. Subsequently, they took us to the banana plantation and hit us. While beating us, they were telling us that they would kill us before we would be able …