After reading your book “Nobody knows what happened in Rwanda: Hope and Horror in the 1994 genocide“, I now know that you have gone through difficult times that you heroically survived, reasons why I have great respect for you.
Ephraim Telford
Vancouver, Canada, November 28, 2019
In his book, Jean Jacques Bosco delivers a compelling and profoundly personal testimony of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. “Nobody Knows What Happened in Rwanda: Hope and Horror in the 1994 Genocide” is a detailed account of events that provides insight into some of the worst acts against humanity that both Tutsis and Hutus have endured solely based on their ethnic identity. Through captivating and deeply moving stories, Bosco vividly recalls some of the atrocities he has witnessed and shares the various struggles he and many Rwandans have faced over the years.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone seeking to understand the events that have devastated so many Rwandan, particularly between 1994 and 1996. As brilliantly stated by Bosco, “ethnicity” is a contradiction-filled with absurdity in Rwandan society, and Rwandans will not have a modern society until they can subdue it” (p.55). True power resides in knowledge and acknowledging Rwanda’s history which is the only way to avoid repeating the fatal errors of the past.
Rita Leila Sibo
Québec-Canada, July 14, 2020
Just very much like the title of the book, “Nobody knows what happens in Rwanda” the idea of genocide in my mind was not pictorial. I remember I did hear the news regarding the confrontation between the tribes of Tutsi and Hutu and that the UN tried to intervene and helped to settle the violence back in year of 1994. I saw some video footage of the soldiers and armies and gunfire; however, I was very little to understand the whole story behind the incident, either politically or non-politically. Not to mention the details about the genocide they are certainly unimaginable to me.
As I am reading through the book, it portrays the venturesome experience of escaping from Mudende tangibly in my mind. It is very difficult to imagine how much courage it takes for a fugitive runaway with not only yourself but with a busload of hundreds of students. It also takes a lot of braveries to go face-to-face against soldiers at all those barricades as they could pull the triggers to start massive massacres in any given second. The incident of your grandmother being beheaded saddens me deeply. It also reflects the level of bloodiness and brutality Rwanda once was. No one would ever want to be exiled from their home countries if they are not forced to.
The book is easy to read, follow, and understand. I always find myself to be one of the students in university who witnesses the genocide; one of your passengers in the bus who escapes in the runaway; or one of those in the stadium who stays through the endless night waiting for evacuation. What I find the book lacks of is the pictures of Rwanda and the town of Mudende. I did a little research on the internet myself to see what the cities, landscapes, and geography in Rwanda look like, but the results were very limited. The pictures in the book are almost everything that I can google. The country believingly is still not opened to the world.
One thing that I learn from reading the book is the line “Never respond to anger with anger”. It has already stamped in my heart if I encounter any confrontation. I would definitely remember the line whenever I am facing arguments between people. The line certainly helps to soften the tensions or somehow gives solutions to problems if we treat them without anger.
At last, I hope you find a new realm in Canada and I think you have already done so such as coaching soccer teams and bringing them for tournaments around the globe. Reading your book could allow me to experience how you went through your life in Rwanda.
I wish you Merry Christmas and happy new year of 2021 to come.
Regards,
Philip Wong
Vancouver-Canada, December 28, 2019
After 25 years, you would think that the public knows what happened in Rwanda in 1994. Very few knew the big picture but ordinary people who were there knew at least the hell they were living in. The author was there. He magnificently described what he saw, and more importantly, what he did while, putting everything in the context.
As someone who was not there but lived the whole catastrophe on the TV screen, I never understood how human beings could kill other human beings like mosquitoes. I never accepted the easy narrative of bad Hutu and good Tutsi as in any human ethnic group, there are good and bad people.
One thing about this book that I especially appreciated was the conscience of the author. He was keenly aware of the feelings of the characters and how his actions would affect them. This wasn’t a book about blame or excuses; it was about healing. How do we move beyond the simplified media narrative to the reality on the ground until now?
I highly recommend this book to readers who are interested in reading something that may challenge the simplistic explanation of what really happened in Rwanda in 1994.
Ana Gihozo
Quebec-Canada
Thank you for your great story, you are right, I like your book and I also passed your story to my Chinese friends as well. Christopher is going to read this book, and I told him it is your story, he is shocked.
Maggie
Hello friend Jean Jacques,
The truth will always remain constant and does not have different versions. Glad that you were exonerated from the baseless accusations of war crimes, that was one additional pain to all that you have been through.
Congratulations for taking the courage to document your experiences of the genocide.
Sylv. Oban
Vancouver, Canada, January 2020
English version:
I read the book. Your testimony is honest. The account given of this recent history is an eyewitness testimony and your own research. I really admired your courage and sense of openness. Well done.
Kinyarwanda version:
Igitabo naragisomye. Nabonye waratanze ubuhamya mu buryo honnete. Na lecture ufite y’ariya mateka ya vuba ishingiye ku byo woboneye n’ibindi wagiye ubonera ibisubizo. J’ai beaucoup apprecie ton courage et ton sens d’ouverture.
Bravo.
Sigsbert Musangampfura
Finland, February 16, 2020
“Nobody knows what happened in Rwanda: Hope and Horror in the 1994 Genocide”, is a very important book to read. Jean Jacques Bosco Intimately describes his survival of the horror of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and his journey to Canada as a refugee. He reflects on his experience with anger, grief and humility. He was a hero to many — a human being to himself. His political knowledge and skill as a journalist is evident in his book and leaves the reader with a greater understanding of “what really happened in Rwanda”, as well as a desire to ask many more questions.
Lynda Hydamaka MA, RMT, RTC, MTC
Vancouver, Canada, May 24, 2020
Hello Jean Jacques,
I have finished reading your book, “Nobody Knows What Happened in Rwanda: Hope and Horror in the 1994 Genocide”. Frankly speaking, it’s professionally and well written! You have shown heroism at the highest level, but did you know that some strong men hate heroes.
Dr. Francois. Niyo
June 09, 2020
Jean Jacques Bosco, you are absolutely amazing! I love this book, “Nobody Knows What Happened in Rwanda: Hope and Horror in the 1994 Genocide”. Your courage and your empathy towards Rwanda and Rwandans is unbelievable. You are not only my inspiration, but also for all Rwandans and humankind. You encourage us to stand up and fight against all the evilness. As my father used to tell us, “right is always right”.
Alex Dushime
Louisiana, USA, July 02, 2020
Nobody knows what happened in Rwanda because we weren’t there in 1994 having our lives as we know it stripped away from us or, even worse, slaughtered by the thousands with no sight of help.
It is difficult to read this book at times but it is these traumatizing moments that make you appreciate the life you have while showing you how strong the human spirit is. As I sit here and read Jean Jacques Bosco’s personal account of what happened during the Rwandan genocide, I can only listen but never fully understand what it must feel like to watch people be raped and killed and having to find a way to escape and start life anew in a different country.
Whether you choose to read this book in one sitting or choose to come back to it, I encourage you to give this book a read.
Saachi Thind
Former classmate at the University of Fraser Valley, Abbotsford, Canada, February 14, 2021
Nobody Knows What Happened in Rwanda: Hope and Horror in the 1994 Genocide is a firsthand account of a man who had to overcome many challenges. He witnessed unimaginable horror and terror. In spite of his own fear and PTSD his courage led him out of his beloved Rwanda, and to his new land of Canada where he has built a new life with his family. He is a true inspiration.
D. Kootney
Thank you for inviting me to your book launch. It was a difficult night, but also full of wonderful things. I liked meeting some of your friends and the Rwandan dancers were fantastic. Such beautiful dances!
I am enjoying reading your book, but it is difficult to read at times. I found the part about the road blocks very scary. If I didn’t know you and your outgoing personality, I would think that getting through those road blocks was a superhuman feat. Come to think of it maybe it was. I feel very lucky to know you.
Anna L.
I just finished reading your book and found it both powerful and captivating. As was iterated at the launch, this took great courage to share but as you repeat in the book it is important to tell the untold story from first hand accounts of what took place. Hopefully others continue to come forward and speak out without censorship.
Bladen
After reading twice the book “Nobody Knows What Happened in Rwanda: Hope and Horror in the 1994 Genocide” from Jean Jacques Bosco (JJ), the author, I discovered this narrative to be a true story of extraordinary courage. As I was moving from one chapter to the next, the book captured my attention and I had to read it in one day. It is a book with a fascinating and real story.
During the 1994 war, killing a Tutsi or a Hutu was an act of bravery for some enraged Rwandan criminals on all sides. However, JJ, the young student at the time, chose to use his high level of judgment and leadership to save lives, without taking side of any tribe or his geographical origin.
At the Seventh Day Adventist University of Mudende, JJ ignored the danger he might have faced and took over the community leadership. His courage and leadership listed throughout his book, allows me to qualify his action as heroic. The book shows the incontestable actions of a young student who decided to risk his life and work on an adventure to save students, staff and faculty member alike. The book exhibits JJ’s sense of respect to human beings for Tutsi and Hutu, foreigners and local citizens of the Mudende community. Driving a bus and organizing other vehicles’ transportation to evacuate people from Mudende to Gisenyi is one of the stories of bravery.
I invite avid readers to appreciate themselves JJ’s book while impartially condemning several acts of atrocities, war crimes, and political crimes that were committed by both sides: the Rwandan government of the day and the Rwandan Patriotic Front rebels. The book also recounts Jean Jacques’s long journey from Congo, Kenya, Togo, and Canada, a long road to exile where he has been recreating himself by forming a family, attending universities to fulfil his childhood academic dreams.
Finally, JJ discusses the hell that he was dragged in by the current Rwandan government via the International Police Organization, Interpol, where he was falsely accused to have committed crimes in 1994. He fought for his rightful innocence and was successful.
Enjoy the fascinating book.
Donald Bahizi
Ohio, USA, February 2020
When I received this book, the title reminded me of the paper ‘Shroud over Rwanda’s nightmare’ published by Michaels Dobbs, in the New York Times of January 09, 2014. In this paper, the author concludes: “Records that could shed light on whether it could have been prevented are still classified in Washington, New York, Paris, Brussels, Geneva, Arusha and Kigali — unavailable to the public despite pledges by international leaders to fully investigate the tragedy. In order to draw the correct lessons from history, we must first establish all the facts.’
In this book, Jean Jacques Bosco contributes in shedding some light to what really happened in Rwanda by telling us what he witnessed from where he was during the Rwandan genocide in 1994. Because of the social, political, and economic environment, the Rwandan society is mainly a “group society” where people tend to support their own group vs other groups particularly in periods of conflict. For this reason, I admire JJ Bosco’s courage to have stepped out of his own group, the Hutu, and organize the evacuation of his fellow students, hutus and tutsis alike, from the university campus of Mudende to the nearby city of Gisenyi. The way JJ Bosco behaved in this dangerous period is a great lesson of courage and leadership.
JJ Bosco’s story is also an example of how Rwandan people reputed Hutu who have been and are still subject of arbitrary persecution from Kagame, the absolute ruler of Rwanda ever since 1994 up until today. It is very unfortunate that the public opinion in Western countries believes in the official narrative of <genocide against the Tutsi by the Hutu>. Because of this partial and biased narrative, JJ Bosco was falsely accused of having participated in the genocide and had to endure almost 10 years of uncertainty before he could be granted the Canadian citizenship. Luckily, JJ Bosco was cleared of any crimes, but until now so many innocent Rwandans reputed Hutu are being constantly harassed, persecuted simply based on false accusations by the current government of Rwanda.
Very interestingly, JJ Bosco also shares his personal reflections about how the Rwandan people can get out the quagmire we are in now in order to build a nation where every citizen has freedom and rights. I fully agree with JJ Bosco where he says (on page 55): Ethnicity is a contradiction-filled with absurdity in Rwandan society, and Rwandans will not have a modern society until they can subdue it. However the necessary condition for that to happen, the real story of what really happened in Rwanda must be told. In the documentary, Rwanda’s untold story, Prof. Allan Stam from the University of Virginia, USA, says: <What the world believes and what really happened are quite different>. I also totally agree with JJ Bosco where he says, on page 170, <Those of us living outside Rwanda have a particular duty to speak out>. This is a must read book for anyone who wants to know what really happened in Rwanda.
Guillaume Murere
Gatineau-Quebec, November 18, 2020
A pleasant surprise to receive your book. I feel for you. it is good for you to share the experience, it the hope that it will not happen again.
Good luck.
James L.