Providence Nkurunziza

Providence Nkurunziza is a christian speaker, author, and advocate.

 

She is a child survivor of the 1994 Genocide perpetrated against the Tutsis in Rwanda that claimed more than a million innocent lives in a span of 100 days, including her two parents and five siblings. She was 11. 

 

Provie worked at the Kigali Genocide Memorial and went on to found the "Kabeho Neza Initiative," a nonprofit organization registered with the State of Texas that raises awareness of the Genocide against the Tutsis and fights the denial in all its forms. 

 

She understands women rights&empowerment and has a heart for children, advocates for those  who contracted HIV/AIDS as a result of sexual assault during the  same Genocide against the Tutsis of 1994.

 

In April 2023, she was invited to share her survival story with the Swedish Parliament and the United Nations in Geneva and Vienna UN headquarters.

 

She is the first Rwandan and the youngest  to be appointed to serve on the Texas Holocaust, Genocide and Antisemitism Advisory Commission. 

 

(https://thgaac.texas.gov/about/contact)

 

In 2019, she was invited to participate in a workshop and educational conference organized by Ambassador Swanee Hunt, which took place at the Harvard Kennedy School to share how of a big role played by women for Rwanda’s renaissance (https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2019/05/women-lead-rwandas-renaissance-says-harvard-kennedy-school-panel/)

 

Provie recently authored her remarkable and moving memoir, Next Couple Hours, which recounts her experience during the genocide, explores loss and trauma, emphasizes preventing genocides from happening anywhere else in the future. 

 

She is currently working with Holocaust museums across Texas, public/private schools and libraries, as well as christian churches where she delivers a message of hope, understanding God as a faithful and loving father to his children.

 

She discusses the power and the meaning of praying without ceasing.

 

She shares a story of hope and a desire to unite communities to form an inclusive coalition practicing tolerance and standing up for positive change.

 

Living  in Texas with her husband and children, she admits to be refined by her experience instead of  being defined as a victim.