Rytal’s Story

I volunteered to assist an artist in a workshop designed for children aged 8 to 12. The goal was to help them create illustrations that express the trauma they experienced during this genocide, and how they have learned or are still learning to cope with it and face the future. Our mission was to support and encourage them to tell their stories, to put their pain into words and then bravely transform those emotions into visual art. Among all the stories, Rytal’s stayed with all of us. Every time she told it, she cried and made us cry with her.

During Ramadan 2024, Rytal and her family gathered for Iftar. Just after breaking their fast, they received an order to leave their home within 15 minutes. In that moment, her world turned upside down. Everyone was running in panic, unsure what to do or what to take before the bombing started. Her father called the neighbours to warn them, her mother rushed from one room to another trying to grab essentials, her siblings screamed, and her grandmother asked her to take care of the younger ones. Everything around Rytal was moving in chaos except herself. 

Those 15 minutes felt like only 5. Her father managed to get the family outside, but then went back in to perform ablution and prepare for the Isha prayer. A moment later, a bomb hit their home, lighting up the sky. The family watched in horror from just 50 meters away. Rytal screamed: her father was still inside. Neighbours tried to comfort them, assuring that he would be fine, but deep down, Rytal knew she had lost her favourite person, the one who made her feel safe and happy. 

Without him, the family was lost, like their world had collapsed. She suddenly felt older, burdened with responsibilities far beyond her age. Fear, silence, and chaos surrounded them, but slowly, through love, they began to rebuild from within. Her father’s soul became her guide, a way to heal, to remember, and to find strength again. Now, Rytal carries her home within her heart, turning pain into hope. She has become her family’s greatest support, the one her mother and siblings lean on. In her own words, she says: ‘I feel like I became our home after my father was gone.’