Miracle in Kigali: November 2010

Monday 29 November 2010

Book Signing Out of Africa Trading Post, Norwich Market

Illuminee Nganemariya will be signing copies of Miracle in Kigali, 11am - 1pm, Saturday 11 December at Out of Africa Trading Post, Norwich Market.

Thursday 25 November 2010

Out of Africa Trading Post Norwich Market Stocks Miracle in Kigali

Out of Africa Trading Post, Norwich Market is stocking Miracle in Kigali from Friday 26 November http://www.facebook.com/pages/Norwich-United-Kingdom/Out-Of-Africa-Trading-Post/110515762346429?ref=mf&v=wall.

Tuesday 23 November 2010

Norwich Book Group

Here's a photograph taken at Flicky Ridel's Book Group on Monday 22 November.

Friday 19 November 2010

50 Christmas Trees in a Church - Miracle in Kigali

We are taking part in 50 Christmas Trees in a Church, Dickleburgh Church again this year with a Miracle in Kigali tree (last year's tree is pictured).

Illuminee is singing Rwandan carols with the Benefice Choir at the officially opening - 5pm on Saturday 4 December.

She will also be at the festival all day on Wednesday 8 December to talk about Miracle in Kigali.

50 Christmas Trees in a Church runs from Sunday 5 December to Sunday 12 December, open 10am to 7pm daily (closed 4pm on 12 December). For further information see http://www.50christmastrees.com/

Norwich Book Group Monday 22 November

We are discussing Miracle in Kigali at Flicky Ridel's Book Group in Norwich on Monday 22 November.

Tuesday 9 November 2010

Africa United Film Premiere in Rwanda

Roger flew to Rwanda last weekend for the premiere of Africa United. The screening took place at the Serena Hotel, Kigali on Sunday 7 November. This is a link to the report in the New Times Rwanda http://www.newtimes.co.rw/index.php?issue=14438&article=35436

Rwandans in UK Documentary

Illuminee was interviewed and filmed in Norwich on 5 November for a documentary being made by Gaile Parkin, a student at MET Film School in London. The documentary is about Rwandans in the UK and the different ways that they adapt to living here.

Illuminee is pictured with Gaile and fellow students who made up her camera crew - left to right Laura Van Liere from USA, Illuminee, Gaile Parkin who is originally from Zambia and Natasha Skreslet from Canada.

Miracle in Kigali Introduction

Miracle in Kigali

How does it feel to wake up every single morning for over three months facing the prospect that you and your newborn baby will almost certainly be brutally murdered that day?

This was the experience of Illuminée Nganemariya, a young Tutsi bride, now living in Norwich, England. Yet by a seeming miracle Illuminee, and her son Roger miraculously survived the 1994 attempt by Rwanda’s Hutu extremists to wipe their Tutsi neighbours from the face of the earth.

Illuminée existed for 100 days in the living hell of Kigali, Rwanda’s capital, after watching her husband being dragged away to be killed by friends who had celebrated their wedding with them a month earlier.

Then she embarked on a horrific journey through the barbaric holocaust with her newborn son strapped to her back. At any moment a wrong move would have seen them join the 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus who were murdered in three months - at a faster rate than the Nazis achieved in their industrial gas chambers.

One of Africa’s most beautiful and fertile countries, Le Pays de Mille Collines – The Land of a Thousand Hills – Rwanda descended into pre-historic savagery. Fired by a cocktail of drugs and alcohol, the killers went about their work seemingly without remorse or mercy.

Friend murdered friend, slashing and cutting with machetes and bamboo spears. Thousands of women were casually gang-raped. Pregnant women had their unborn babies ripped from their wombs and smashed against the nearest tree or wall. ‘Lucky’ victims paid for a quicker despatch, courtesy of a bullet to the head.

Illuminée Nganemariya is a survivor. She has spent the last decade, living in Norwich, dealing with the trauma of her 100-day nightmare. She is believed to be the first survivor of the Rwandan genocide resident in Britain to tell a personal story of that experience. With the assistance of Paul Dickson, Illuminee has recounted her ordeal in this book to finally put the memory of those tragic events behind her.

It is one woman’s story of enormous personal courage and character -- but most of all it is testament to the indestructibility of the human spirit.

Miracle in Kigali, price £12 can be purchased via Paul Dickson Books www.pauldicksonbooks.co.uk/miracle-in-kigali ; also available as an ebook on all main ebook sites including Amazon.

Finalist in The Creative East Awards 2008 Best Factual Publication.

Miracle in Kigali