Three decades after the Genocide against the Tutsi in 1994, Rwandans have demonstrated remarkable resilience through ongoing reconciliation and recovery efforts. Organizations such as the Ministry of National Unity and Civic Engagement (MINUBUMWE) have sought to promote unity while preserving the memory of the past. Dating back to 2015, the National Dialogue Council (Umushyikirano) identified the specific need for research about the history of religious organizations during and after the Genocide. (Note: For brevity and variety, the single capitalized word “Genocide” is sometimes used to refer specifically to the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. When the meaning is broader, the lowercase “genocide” is used.)
The experience of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Rwanda is a subject of interest to genocide and religion scholars, especially given the faith community’s well-documented history of nonviolence and neutrality during the Nazi era. In this historical-cultural context, the JW-RWA study provides insights into the faith, forgiveness, and families among Jehovah’s Witnesses in Rwanda and the role of shared religious beliefs in fostering social cohesion and a hopeful forward orientation. It is the first large-scale nationwide quantitative study of any single minority religion in a post-genocide country.