Back to Global Conversations 2.09: Dalida Waldha, Rwanda Guide
How do you reconcile the past and find light amid the darkness of your own personal history? Melissa Biggs Bradley talks with Rwanda guide Dalida Waldha, who shares her powerful story of surviving the Rwanda genocide—and the lessons she learned about reconciliation, the true meaning of forgiveness and how it has helped her country reshape its future.
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Episode Guide
This episode’s guest is sharing a dark and very difficult story, but there’s a light that comes from it, a lot of light. And one reason Melissa asked her to share it is that it speaks to how people get through impossible times and come out on the other side.
The Rwandan genocide was sparked when the plane of Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana was shot down over Kigali in April, 1994. Ethnic tensions between Tutsis and Hutus had flared in the past, but the president’s death was immediately followed by mass killings as both Hutu soldiers and civilians executed as many Tutsis as they could, along with moderate Hutu military and political leaders. The genocide lasted for one hundred days and it’s estimated that close to a million people were slaughtered, mostly with machetes and clubs, and many by people that they knew and had lived beside for years.
So this episode contains some heavy content, but it’s important to understand the historical context before we dive into conversation with today’s guest, Dalida Waldha. It’s almost guaranteed that you haven’t heard of Dalida, but after today, we hope that her story will stick with you. Melissa met Dalida when she was her guide on a recent trip to Rwanda, which is now a very different place than it was in the early ’90s.
Melissa had the privilege of getting to know her and of hearing firsthand her story of the genocide when she was just nine years old, and she and her family spent every day wondering if it might be their last. What emerges is a story of an incredibly resilient and brave woman, someone with a deep capacity for curiosity, forgiveness, and hope. And the amazing thing is that everywhere you go in Rwanda, you will meet people like Dalida. Everyone has a story of the past that is hard to comprehend, and yet they found a way to live in the present with so much grace and understanding. That’s why Rwanda is like no other place on earth, and a trip there is truly mind and soul-expanding, and why we asked Dalida to share her story with us.
