Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/impact-of-armed-conflicts-of-children-family-and-communities/5016379/
Introduction4 October 1990, 11:45 am. My daughter, Agathe, six, came running from school and let herself fall heavily into my arms. She was agitated and her heart was thundering inside her tiny chest. She was not smiling at all.
I immediately realized that she was profoundly upset and was no longer the same. I was trying to utter something, because I felt I had to say something, but nothing came out. Perhaps a question, or soothing words . . . . Nothing could materialize out of my lips. While I was struggling within myself, she asked me: “Papa, what ethnic group do we belong to?”
The question and the situation made me almost lose my countenance. The war that had started only four days before at more than 350 kilometers from Kigali had already invited itself in my house. And it was present in the heart of my daughter, I myself was already contaminated.
Not only had it reached Kigali, but also it had started destroying the quietness of children. Perhaps other fathers and mothers had to answer similar queries. Father-knows-everything? No . . . Father hesitated; Father had no answer; so instead of answering, I asked her a question. “What is that? What ...