It is a book that recounts her history in 1994, a time during which Nishimwe's family sought refuge in a Muslim neighborhood, where on April 15, 1994, her father and aunt were killed.
The situation continued to worsen as a week later, three of her siblings, including Bon-Fils Abimana, who was 16 months old, Pascal Muvara, who was seven, and Philbert Nkusi, who was nine, were also killed.
After the massacre of her family members, her grandmother, the grandfather and an uncle were also killed, leaving this young girl with no hope of survival.
She sought refuge in various places, trying to see if daybreak would come, but the killers found her, raped her, and infected her with the HIV virus.
Later, she managed to escape with her mother, Marie-Jeanne, and her sibling, Jeanette Ingabire. Considering the horror Nishimwe went through, it is hard to imagine how she could find healing, but astonishingly, she did heal and began to help others who were suffering.
Nishimwe, who lives in New York in the United States, in a conversation with Lisa Keefauver on the MSW Podcast, said that healing from these wounds took her a long time.
'It is by the grace of God and meeting the right people. Being in the right place, being able to meet amazing people who could understand me and give that space to me,' she said.
She said that her mother also supported her, regardless of what others thought. 'My mother helped me, we were still going through a lot of trauma. But she helped me to be able to live with that trauma. I learned from her how to live with trauma. At that time, I was a young child, I had a lot within me.'
Nishimwe says that the problem many people have is that they cannot articulate how to speak about the bad times they went through, noting that she was able to move beyond that limitation to become one of those who took the lead in knowing how to talk about her wounds.
When she began her journey of confronting and healing her wounds, Nishimwe says, she first had to understand that she needed to feel the wounds of everyone and put herself in their place.
'That is why I can have a compassionate heart, being able to understand the wounds of another person they went through. If I hadn't met those people who cared about me, I wouldn't be here. For me, I thank everyone who helped me when I had no words to express how I felt,' she said
Nishimwe also noted that when she published her book in 2012, many people could not understand how she spoke about everything that happened to her, but her mother continued to be there for her and encouraged her.
She also mentioned that when she started taking antiretroviral treatment for HIV, it was initially challenging because it reminded her of what she had gone through, but later she was able to comprehend.
'It was a problem, but now it is no longer an issue for me. I see it as taking vitamins because how I changed my mindset and how I see myself helped me articulate what I have,' she noted.
Asked what she wishes her friends would talk to her about Nishimwe responded, 'It is for them to ask how I am or how I feel because it allows a person to express their emotions, especially when they are with someone they can relate with.'
IGIHE
