The Greatest Gift
With your help two survivors of the Genocide in Rwanda will have a long deserved opportunity to be parents
For anyone longing for a child, the pain of infertility is immense. But for genocide survivors, that pain is magnified by the loss, of family and community, they have already suffered.
The goal of the perpetrators of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda was to exterminate all ethnic Tutsis. Men, women and children, entire families were systematically murdered. In just 100 days over a million people were killed.
For survivors, starting a family in the aftermath of the genocide has felt like a responsibility as well as a way for finding joy and hope again.
And yet sadly, in our work with genocide survivors, we have encountered many couples suffering with infertility. The WHO estimates that 1 in 4 couples in developing countries experience some sort of infertility.
Modern technology including vitro fertilization (IVF) offers hope, but only for those who are able to cover the high costs associated with the treatment.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda and we believe there is no better time to begin helping survivors facing infertility. We are starting one survivor at a time.
Which brings us to Survivor M (named changed for privacy)
Survivor M lost most of her family in the 1994 genocide. Despite her personal tragedy she is selfless and kind-hearted. In the 25 years since the genocide, she has worked tirelessly to help rebuild her community and country by helping vulnerable people, including fellow survivors and their children.
Survivor M and her husband (a survivor himself) have been trying to have children for many years, their disappointment and distress growing as the years have worn on. They had begun to lose hope when a New York City fertility clinic, the (aptly named) New Hope Fertility Center offered to help them conceive with the help of IVF at an reduced cost.
They, and we, are beyond excited at this possibility. We aim to help New Hope and her husband take advantage of this IVF opportunity and are confident that with your help, we can make their dream of becoming parents a reality. Survivor M has already put aside most of her savings to this opportunity, but we still need to raise more.
They say it takes a village to raise a child. In this case, we need the village’s help to begin as soon as possible. So please support our campaign, and help Survivor and her husband become the parents they so deserve to be.
About this Campaign’s Organizers
Jacqueline Murekatete
My name is Jacqueline Murekatete. I am a genocide survivor, a human rights activist, a lawyer and the founder of Genocide Survivors Foundation, a New York based nonprofit organization that educates people about the crime of genocide and supports survivors. Perhaps most importantly, I am a mom to a beautiful little girl who is two and a half years old at the moment.
Having lost my entire immediate family, as well as most of my extended family, to the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda, becoming a mother and being able to continue my family’s line has been the biggest blessing of my life. I cannot imagine my life without my daughter. So, it pains me greatly to meet fellow survivors who so badly want to have children in an effort to rebuild their families but are unable to do so. This survivor and her husband so much deserve to be parents and I am optimistic that with your help, we can make this happen.
Karen Shulman
My name is Karen Shulman and I have been working in Holocaust and Genocide education for over a decade. I am privileged to sit on the Board of Genocide Survivors Foundation. As a Jewish person, I have always felt a particular imperative to build a world where “Never Again” can be true for everyone, as well as a push to assist survivors of the Holocaust and subsequent genocides. Through my work, I have met many survivors and I am always struck with their love and resiliency in spite of the horrors they have gone through. As someone who has experienced years of infertility myself, to finally be blessed with my own daughter, I know first-hand the power and hope building a family can mean to a person. With the incredible help from a special doctor (who would like to remain anonymous) from New Hope Fertility Clinic in NYC, I was given the greatest gift of all. This phenomenal doctor has offered to help make this survivor and her husband’s dream of a child a reality, and we cannot be more grateful. Please join us on this amazing journey to bring more hope, love, light, and joy into this world by giving, sharing, and sending positive thoughts during this campaign. Thank you!
For Transparency
As per GoFundMe rules, we want to make sure we are transparent with how the money will be used for Survivor M’s IVF.
The creators of this campaign ( Jacqueline and Karen ) know Survivor M personally. We will have the funds be deposited into Karen’s personal account, where she will then pay Survivor M’s medical/travel expenses via credit card, documenting every transaction. This is because Survivor M lives in Rwanda and does not have a bank account set up in the US to be able to receive the go fund me funds directly . If any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Jacqueline or Karen directly . Thank you!
