With thanks to the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, the charity that promotes and supports Holocaust Memorial Day in the UK, www.hmd.org.uk/ and Antoinette Mutabazi from Youth With A Mission, an international volunteer movement of Christians from many backgrounds, cultures and traditions. www.ywamengland.org/

The crazy thing is if you walked past her in a store you would never know any of this story, this is why it is important to be kind to people around you

"How are you today?" And she straightens up and says "I am alive. I am doing great. I am thriving." I admire her so much.

"What happened to your family?" The question hits her right in the heart that almost left her literally breathless.

“Forgiveness is the key to your freedom” after hearing her recall the most brutal and terrifying time period in her life really meant something to me. What an amazing woman.

Watching a baby feed on its beheaded mother is an unfathomable level of trauma.

"My father told us not to hide together, so if we were caught, we both wouldn't be killed" absolutely broke my heart. Imagine having to say that to your own children

Both my parents are survivors but what stuns me most is the courage and power these people have to preach forgiveness . The pain Tutsi’s endured in 1994 is beyond human comprehension.

19:15 being able to forgive someone who did that is something I myself would never be able to do. Massive respect for this woman.

As a child I was always afraid of ghost and the paranormal. But as I grew older and learning about human cruelty, I can't help but find humans scarier than any other creature.

This woman studied, got a job, educates people whilst fighting the most abhorrent trauma imaginable and can say that she is thriving. Nothing less than incredible and completely exceptional.

The dark side of humanity has no words. What a brave lady and I pray she manages to find mental peace.

She reminds me of my mum, who is also a survivor of the Rwanda genocide. To share such a traumatic story is a level of strength too high that there is no words for it.

It’s crazy how SHE talks about forgiveness while I’m over here hoping those men suffer the most painful realm of hell for eternity.

African history is not discussed enough. Full stop. What an amazing women.

I was in Rwanda in early 2020, while I was there I was stunned by the beauty of the country in each of the cities I visited, from Kibuye to Kigali all the way to Kayonza. The genocide is a horrific part of their history but Rwanda stays strong. The strength and kindness of the people who survived never ceases to amaze me.

When the interviewer asks Antoinette “How are you today?” and she replies, “I am alive.” I broke down crying thinking of the horrors this amazing woman and her family had and continues to endure today. Sending much ❤ and hope to you all. Your story has touched and inspired so many people.

"And how are you today?" "I am alive." Full body chills. I can't even imagine coming out of something like that with the strength this woman has

I have a friend who survived the Rwandan genocide. He was held at gunpoint at the roadside and forced to dig his own grave. He was almost done, minutes away from being shot and dumped into the hole he dug, when suddenly the heavens opened and torrential rain flooded the area. The downpour was so heavy, in a moment, people scattered in all directions for shelter. My friend also hurried away, too afraid to look behind him and anticipating a bullet in his back any second....it never came.

This is so heartbreaking I’m a Nigerian and this is my first time hearing this it’s so sad our brothers and sisters went through this hell😥

How is it that when I have a minor fork in the road of my life I melt down but this woman can see horrors beyond man and heaven and be okay enough to keep going. Amazing strength and perseverance on her part.

My friend lived there. She lost many family members. She escaped and had been raped and a machete was used on her thigh bone. I don’t know how she survived. This woman loves EVERY day and tackles it with hunger amd awe. She loves life. Always has a smile on her face! She became a nurse here to help others. Cecille. I love how strong you are girl! God bless you!

Truly terrifying what people are capable of. This woman is tougher than I'll ever be.

How she survived is a miracle.

This woman is beyond the definition of strength compassion and understanding.

I appreciate how she stopped and corrected herself sometimes when she was telling her story and mentioning the Hutu she made a point to say "the killers" rather than "the Hutu". It really showcases a willingness to see individuals and judge them on their own faults and merits.

interviewer: how are you today? her: i am alive this is way more meaningful than many would understand.

I remember learning about this Genocide, I watched the movie “Hotel Rwanda.” I was 9 or 10 and completely horrified. So to have actually lived through this…that’s a level of terror and trauma that is impossible to wrap my mind around. My heart goes out to this woman. She survived and is able to work through that trauma. I’m glad she decided to share her story.

I’ve read about what happened, but I’ve never heard a first hand account. This is one of the most horrific things I’ve ever heard described. She is stronger than almost anyone I’ve ever met. What a strong and beautiful soul.

Had never heard about this genocide in Rwanda. I feel like more people should know about it. It’s awful the sickening evil human beings can show

Just hearing the story of that mother beheaded and her baby nursing while the mother is dead is heartbreaking.

How she can have any level of forgiveness just shows what a beautiful person she is and a much better person than I. The things she witnessed no human should ever had to witness, never mind as a 12 year old child. To hear what happened to her baby brother, her mother and her other brother and the traumatic things she saw is just absolutely harrowing, vile, digusting and so so sad. How can another human carry out such attrociaties on another human? I just cant comprehend it. I'm just so happy she still has her father and one of her brothers who survived. What a powerful, brave, courageous woman.

You can see the inner turmoil and panic as she's recounting the things she saw. In the end she said forgiveness is the key to freedom. I've been wronged in my life, nothing of that magnitude but I know that it isn't about the other person. I've forgiven people for hurting me because it releases the mental energy I'm diverting towards being angry at them. It frees up a part of my mind to live again and not be consumed by hatred. It really does help. It doesn't mean you ever have to tell them or interact with them ever again because they are obviously bad for you but it does mean you get to sleep with a slightly lighter heart at night.

The hole of small children being set on fire to burn all of them alive must be one of the worst things I've ever heard. The pain, the guilt of the parent the killers spotted, the screams....this is humanity at its absolute worst. I'm glad she's thriving, though. After everything she went through, she deserves to be thriving.

What's also disturbing is that both tribes live together now, so many people have neighbours who killed their family members.

The mere fact that she survived because of robbing of a bank, is just wow. Two people ahead of her and she was just, "well this is happening," AT PEACE and by the greed of people she lived. Just wow.

I watched a documentary about that genocide once and it's almost unbearable to watch and hear what happened to the people. I can hardly bare the cruelty.... Thank you so much for your testimony, you are incredibly strong and amazing! ❤

Seeing that she only started to cry when she said she was too afraid to save the baby... god. Poor lady, she clearly is still an empathetic, caring person despite what she went through. I'm not sure if I would.

Listening to her has made me realise I should really never ever complain about going through a bad day.

How can things like this happen? How can people kill children, their own wives? This woman is so strong and has experienced more hardship than anyone conceivably should. She’s brave for telling her story and awareness is key. I’m heartbroken for them. 💔

Her resilience is amazing. No child, no person, should suffer the trauma she was subjected to. It's horrific.

Speechless. This woman is the example of strength.

This was the most traumatic story I've ever heard. Her saying, 'forgiveness is the key to your freedom' was enlightening.

My heart broke watching her re-living the experience to answer the questions. THANK YOU for making the decision to filming this video. You have shined light on Rwandan history that many people here have probably never heard about including myself. Thinking of you and wishing you the very best in your healing journey.

when the reporter asked, "how are you?" and she said, "i am alive" blew me away and moved me so much. after what she had endured, her answer was so full of hope and strength and resilience and this brief insight into her optimism despite the horrors she faced made me understand her gratitude for life, and ultimately her drive to continue living it because she's here, and she survived. and that is so empowering and so beautiful. i wish this woman everything good and everything she deserves and so much more. because she's here, and she's alive

This woman needs a whole movie dedicated to her and everyone who was a victim of the genocide.

Setting children on fire, I just can't understand how people can be so inhumane and cruel. And to think the people that took part in these acts are walking around living their normal lives.

the fact that she saw all these with her own eyes are beyond control. I am a young mum and the thought of me being beheaded while carrying my little baby just hit me deep. I pray she heals from all those things, all she saw, all she feels every day memories flashes through her mind. Sending Love and Hugs to all Rwandese.

Incredible, and heartbreaking stories, there. That she can answer how she’s doing with her head up, and an “I’m thriving” makes me smile. She has seen the very very worst humanity can offer, and has not lost her faith in human kindness. That’s a special type of strength.

people can be so evil. this woman is so incredibly strong, i can’t imagine what this was like to go through, let alone hear it

"Forgiveness is the key to your freedom" The fact that she could find this path after what she has gone through is amazing. This woman is amazing.

I can’t imagine how much inner strength it’s taken for her to relive and retell her story. I wish her nothing but happiness and healing in life.

I'm humbled listening to this articulate and intelligent survivor. Thank you for bringing awareness with your testimony of forgiveness.

I saw a documentary where some villages had the people who were involved in the killings confess and apologize. These people were their neighbors. The cruelty of man is astounding.

I’ve never wanted to give a stranger a hug so badly.

This is so touching, it was quite a traumatic experience. I really salute your courage

All that my mind kept repeating for the last 19 minutes and and 48 seconds was, “ this is one of the most beautiful people I have ever seen in my life..” And then for the last few seconds I kept hearing her say how forgiveness is the key to you freedom, but how it is not easy.. Forgive yourself, forgive those whom have hurt you, and be set free I’m still working on forgiveness 🙏🏾 thank you for sharing your story

The fact that some people don't feel the wrong in any of that is scary

my mom survived the rwandan tutsi genocide and until this day, she never talked to my family about it. i cannot begin to imagine the trauma she went through and yet she is probably the strongest person i know. edit : thank you so much for all of the kind words, i am extremely grateful. you're all so sweet

i watched this with my mouth open the whole time. This is heart wrenching. I want to cry but I am almost in shock and can't seem to. I had never heard of this tragedy until now. I am beyond impressed with the strength this woman has. I hope she continues to heal and finds all the peace in the world for herself.

I cannot fathom the pain she lives with on a daily basis, this is gut wrenching and the fact that many other Tutsis went through worse is unbelievable…

My parents are survivors too, I heard these type of stories when I was younger, truly horrifying, I'm happy they managed to escape and flee to a safer place

"one of my aunties married a hutu man and he killed her" unbelievable. he put the tribal heritage over the love to his wife. let alone the value of her life. i could not have forgiven him under any circumstance

i can’t imagine having to go through so much at such a young age. My heart goes out to this beautiful woman❤️❤️❤️

All I can say is "WOW " and total respect and admiration for this lady x

I went to the genocide memorial when I visited Rwanda. Even the memorial couldn’t give the full picture. It was such an important experience but even as an outsider being there, I was on the brink of tears the whole two hours I was there. They have a room called the children’s room at the end. It’s basically a hallway with photos of these little children/infants. Under each photo it had their name, their age when they died, some of their favourite things (ice cream, football, their aunt, etc…) and then how they died. Most of them were beheaded by machetes or thrown repeatedly against walls until they died. There’s also an area called the three rooms. One of them has the clothes of some of the victims wore when they died. They were modern 90s clothes like adidas track pants and it just makes you realise how recent this all was. All the clothes were drenched in the blood of whoever wore them. The third room is the photos room. It’s got thousands of photos hung up by family members of survivors, of the loved ones that they lost. Anyone can go hang a photo. They’re all hung on clothe pins. The memorial tour starts with a video of survivors speaking about their experience during the genocide, some with machete scars on their heads from childhood. One of them only survived because they hit him so many times with one that they thought there was no way he was still alive. He then got up and dragged himself kilometres away to a hospital where a nurse took him in and protected him and paid off people to leave him alone. You then learn about the history of it all, from the pre-colonisation, to colonisation, to independence, to the genocide. It was a heartbreaking experience to go there but such an important one. The Rwandese will never forget what happened and they don’t want outsiders to either. They want us to learn from what happened there.

“ I raped so and so, I killed so and so.” The fact that how she told us sounded like they were so proud of their deeds..

Thank you so much for sharing your story. I’m so sorry for your losses. I am happy you can move forward after all that you have been put through and seen. Thank you. Bless you

This is one of the most heartbreaking videos I have ever watched. I can’t even put it into words.

This is absolutely horrific. My heart goes out to this woman and all off those who have had similar experiences.

She is so incredibly strong and brave, even as a little girl, hiding alone, she's amazing. I can't even imagine the horrible things she's seen that she hasn't talked about, I hope she lives a good life, she deserves so much better.

This lady is really a strong lady.Because she saw death with her own eyes she became stronger and she is a kind lady and she forgive people who killed her family.she forgive people who not humans but worst of it's kind and she forgive them really really thank you kind lady because you gave me a lesson because many people also do wronged with me but what you said that only forgiveness is a way to get freedom because there's no choice

My heart and soul goes to this beautiful woman, and her determination to survive. And we thought we have been through stuff, nothing compared to her trauma and everything she witnessed.

Jesus I am holding back tears, especially after she said forgiveness is the key to freedom. I just hope she continues to thrive.

I read about this genocide. An entire novel. She's right about compressing some memories because there's more that happened that she would tell if she remembered. It was absolutely vile.

Her choice to start forgiving is so inspirering. She must have so much strength.❤

The amount of emotional pain i felt just listening to this is crazy and to think how much more painful it must be to have gone through that is just unfathomable😭

I spent a little time in Rwanda a couple of years before the genocide. I knew nothing about the Hutu Tutsi divide, they just all seemed like the friendliest of people. Our governments knew they were planning to eradicate the Tutsi and did nothing. Apparently a small contingent of around 5000 UN troops was all that was needed to stop this, but they just sat on their hands and let it happen.

This lady is a literal saint. After all of that horror her journey is to forgive those people.

One can't help but admire the grace and dignity this strong woman displays. Hearing her recount these horrors is enough to bring me to tears, I can't even imagine the pain of having lived through that. May God swt help the oppressed.

Thank God 🙏 that you are with us, Sister. Keep enlightening those of us who aren't familiar with the horrors that you and your family went through. I love 💕 you Sister Stay Well

I read about the Rwandan hutu-tutsi genocide in sixth grade from a woman who lost her whole family. She only has her brother left, and it was a terribly vivid biography. It was the first time I had heard about it. It feels so wrong that so many of us Americans don't know what happened to them. Edit: I would really like it if the Americans and the non Americans in my replies stopped fighting over how we're either A. Assholes for not knowing or B. Not assholes because we should never care about anything outside of the us. Both your viewpoints are wrong, stop using my comment to be so ignorant and awful.

Imagine being a 12 year old kid and having to witness that kind of horror… this is so sad. My heart goes out to her and every person who fell victim to this.

I wish this beautiful soul peace, love and happiness. Thank you for sharing your story.

Im speechless, what a beautiful, dignified. brave and human woman .Who is using the absolutely horrendous experience of those past events to do good now to help others and also heal herself. What a fighting spirit.All the very besr to her and all the hoys ahead that life can offer .❤

She can forgive someone who killed her aunt and I'm here sitting on my comfortable chair can't even forgive someone who keeps trauma dumping on me. She's such a strong character and there are a lot of things I wish to learn from her.

a 12 year old going through all that and seeing all that over a 3 month experience and to still grow into the person she is today is unreal. she is something special.

You know what amazes me most about listening to her talk, she holds no hate towards the people that did this! Just the tone of her voice, the words she chooses to use she is hurt but she isn’t angry and that is beyond amazing! She is the true example of a pure heart ♥️

God bless this woman she’s seen things no human should ever see 😢 what a beautiful resilient strong woman ❤

Can’t imagine how she stayed sane. May God give her all the best this life can offer.

We all think we have problems until someone like this lady comes along with their story…the savagery in this world is heartbreaking 💔

She is so tough. She is moving on by forgiving and honouring all that was lost. She is also committed to be happy to live and finds purpose in encouraging others to make the right decisions and to forgive. I will try to learn from her. Bless her for her strength and message. Thank you.

What an incredible woman with a divine message - 'forgiveness is the key to your freedom'.

"Forgiveness is the key to your freedom". What a human being she is.

"Forgiveness is the key to your freedom". Very wise words from this incredible lady. Bless all of you who watch this video, and may peace be with you.

Oh my god, I just want to hug her and never let go. My goodness I’m so happy she survived. She is so strong ♥️😢

Absolutely heartbreaking. So grateful she survived, to live her life, and to also tell us what happened so we can try to stop things like this.

We talk about PTSD in the military, but I cannot imagine the horrific scenes and depth of suffering this poor lady has gone through. Her and so many like her. May God heal and richly bless her. May she be surrounded by His grace and goodness for the rest of her days. May she find peace and even joy in life.

One of my coworkers was a survivor of the genocide, he was a very cheerful guy and you would have never expected that he survived something horrific

"the forgiveness is the key to your freedom" Antoinette Mutabazi is so correct in speaking these words. It is exactly what I have had to do to live a better life. It is a choice, and it is not easy, but it can be done. I have struggles with forgiveness on a different issue currently, but I will get there. God bless Antoinette Mutabazi, she and so many others have been through something so horrible I don't have words for. So much love for her and others.