Joseline was just nine years old in 1994 when the Rwandan genocide destroyed her world. Over the course of 100 days, at least 800,000 people, mostly ethnic Tutsis like Joseline, were killed by Hutu extremists.
Panic, Anger as Sh700m Multi-purpose Hall Collapses Due to Shoddy Work
When Joseline Umulisa was nine, a man who could have easily killed her saved her life instead during the Rwandan genocide. She went on to become Rwanda’s top female tennis player – and the sport has helped her heal.
“Tennis is everything to me. It’s my life. It’s my medication,” she says.
If ever Joseline is unhappy, she picks up a racquet and plays. “Then after, I feel happy. I feel like everything goes.”
Joseline was just nine years old in 1994 when the Rwandan genocide destroyed her world. Over the course of 100 days, at least 800,000 people, mostly ethnic Tutsis like Joseline, were killed by Hutu extremists.
Uganda Airlines Boss Warns Social Media Users From Tarnishing the Image of Bombardier Aircrafts
The first signs that things weren’t right came at school.
“Kids of my age, they used to run after me calling me snake. Oh, this is a snake. It’s a snake.”
Joseline asked her parents – why? They couldn’t answer, not knowing how to explain why friends and neighbours could turn on them.
The killings started on 7 April. Joseline’s brother had been out herding cows. The family stepped outside their house and found his body.
Terrified, Joseline ran – but was soon caught. In the chaos both her parents were killed, as were nine of her ten siblings. Just one sister survived. Joseline herself was raped, and her back was badly injured.
She only survived because a man who could have killed her chose not to, and instead hid her in his family home.
Chameleone’s Wife Daniella Files for Divorce: We Can Never Reconcile
For weeks, she stayed under the bed, horribly frightened, only coming out at night to wash and go to the toilet. Eventually, she escaped with the man, a Hutu, and his family – but she never felt fully safe.
She ended up in an orphanage. For nine years, she was in and out of hospital, taking medication for her back pain and the trauma she had suffered – until, by chance, she met a man carrying a tennis racquet walking down the road. He asked her if she’d like to have a go.
Joseline played for over an hour, and suddenly, she felt like she could move her body again. That night, she slept for 12 full hours – the first time she’d slept properly since the genocide.
As tennis filled her mind, the terrible things that had happened to her receded. She began to feel new strength in her body, and her back pain eased.
After three years, she was selected for the Rwandan national team – and later became the country’s number one female player.
“I was like, wow, this is me. Then wherever my father is, and wherever my mother is, and wherever my siblings are, they’ve got to be happy with me.”
A high point for Joseline was playing in front of the country’s president. “I was like, oh wow, let me show him that genocide survivors, we are able. I’m here and I’m able.”
Joseline has since opened the Tennis Rwanda Children’s Foundation – and she wants every girl in Rwanda to have the chance she had.
Cornerstone Learners Play as They Celebrate 20 Years of Existence