The book, titled “Smile after Tears,” revisits the challenging times she experienced during the Genocide against the Tutsi.

Born in Gisagara District in the Southern Province of Rwanda, Rutayisire comes from a family of six children.

Except for Mutegwaraba Henriette and herself, other family members, including Rutayisire Fraterne, Tuyisingize Jean Claude, Umubyeyi Assoumptha, Mutambarungu Constance (who was only 2 years old), her father Rutayisire Antoine, and her mother Mugorewishyaka Theresie, were killed during the genocide.

In an exclusive interview with IGIHE, she explained that she named her book ‘Smile after Tears’ to show that despite the numerous painful experiences, there is still a promising life ahead and one should not be consumed by sorrow.

“The reason is that I lived through tears. Losing parents and family at 13 is not easy. There was a long period of grief. I decided to write a book. I said to myself that I should not be overwhelmed by sorrow,” she shared.

She chose to write about her experiences feeling that it could also help others who might have gone through similar ordeals.

In her book, Rutayisire deeply expresses how the loss of her parents and four siblings, with whom she shared a strong bond, devastated her.

“Remembering people without a photo is very hard, what I talk about is what I witnessed at the age of 13. We grew up in the countryside where cameras were not available. Now, there are no photos of my parents or siblings; we remember them in our hearts and through the life we shared with them at that time,” she recounts.

Among the siblings she lost was the youngest, who was only two years old, whose smile she cannot forget. Rutayisire describes how she fled to the Isar-Rubona center along with falimy, where they had been told it was safe, only for it to be attacked by the Interahamwe, leading to her separation from her family.

After being separated, she hid in the forest for three days, and, driven by hunger, decided to go die in her family’s homestead. She also narrates how she found two children of her uncle with their deceased grandmother, decided to take them with her but later witnessed their murder in her hands and was told that she would die of sorrow.

“A woman screamed when she saw us, calling the Interahamwe, and they took us to a place where people were being killed. They handed me a hoe to dig my own grave and that of the children. Due to hunger, I dug but failed, as I had never handled a hoe before. Eventually, the children were killed, and it was said that I would die of sorrow,” she explained.

She was saved by a person who used to herd her family’s cows and decided to take her back to her place of origin. Later, she met a woman who took her in as her own child, and they moved to Kigali. There, she grew up, completed her primary education at GS Intwari in Nyamirambo, and later met an elder sibling who had fled to Burundi.

Rutayisire continued her education up to the university level and now lives in the United States. She is an entrepreneur with business activities spanning the realms of real estate—encompassing buying, selling, and leasing properties—and the promotion of Made-in-Rwanda products in global markets.

Rutayisire highlights that 30 years after the halt of the Genocide against the Tutsi, survivors should not remain trapped in sorrow but strive for progress to honor their lost loved ones.

Rutayisire announces that her book will soon be available on Amazon, Appbook, and in an audio format. She also plans to translate it into other languages, including French and Kinyarwanda.

Born in Gisagara District in the Southern Province of Rwanda, Rutayisire comes from a family of six children.

In an exclusive interview with IGIHE, Rutayisire explained that she named her book ‘Smile after Tears’ to show that despite the numerous painful experiences, there is still a promising life ahead and one should not be consumed by sorrow.

In her book, Rutayisire deeply expresses how the loss of her parents and four siblings, with whom she shared a strong bond, devastated her.

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