On Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2020, the Wagner College Holocaust Center and Black Student Union co-hosted a reading and discussion with Consolee Nishimwe, Rwandan genocide survivor, from her memoir, "Tested to the Limit: A Genocide Survivor’s Story of Pain, Resilience and Hope."
Through the eyes of a 14-year-old victim, we see the horror of one neighbor turning on their neighbor. Yet, the author also captures how her family survives in hiding, offering tribute to her Muslim and Christian rescuers and to her faith. Nishimwe has become a global activist for human rights, focusing on women survivors. This event is moderated by Prof. Lori Weintrob, Director, Wagner College Holocaust Center. Passages from the book which dealt with hiding and rescue were read aloud by Wagner College students in the First Year Program seminar co-taught with Prof. Theresa McCarthy, "We Say Never Again: Empathy, Ethics and Courage." Nishimwe commented on how touched she was to hear young voices reading these scenes of tragedy and hope, as when one young man threatened to turn them in to the killers, but had a change of heart and brought them water instead. One Muslim rescuer even raised a machete against a perpetrator to protect her family. The Muslim population of Rwanda was 1% in 1994 but has since grown to 12% through conversion, in admiration of the heroic role of that community during the genocide.