Louise Uwacu, author of The Nightmare of POSITIVISION chronicles a story of survival during the devastating years of war in Rwanda. Uwacu refers to The Rwandan genocide (1994) that took the form of mass killings of two ethnic groups: Tutsis, and Hutu. The death toll over 100 days has been estimated to be between 800,000 to 1,000,000. It included the assassination of Juvenal Habyarimana. In sharing the premise of her book, UWacu said it is the story of a human being "being haunted by the nightmares of child abuse, separation from family and so much more."
The character in her book finally makes her way to Canada with few resources. "She lands in Canada in 1998 as a refugee at 21 years old with 30 dollars in her pockets. Only to find that surviving peace might turn out to be harder and even more challenging than war. But eventually she goes to therapy and pours all her tears into this encounter. The shrink recommends she takes notes. Later, she chooses to publish their stories and exchanges into a book. The result is a roller coaster. Some will have to ride this one more than once. Just to make sure they have read it correctly. It is so simply put and so truthfully said. It is a cold shower followed by a beautiful sunny day. It is only to a therapist that people usually have the guts to say this much," she said.
When asked what led her to write about the topic of Rwanda’s genocide and the aftermath, she said she often writes about topics that are related to her personal joys and sorrows." Like all that talk about the shapes and sizes of people who have food. While no one talks about the state of those starving not by choice but by injustices in our world," she said.
She credits her mother as one influentials who encouraged her to stay the course of a writing life, although over the years she has observed the nuances of great stories. "My mom always thought I could write, and I thought she was just annoying. But I have always admired writers. Every time I watch a movie, I only think of who wrote that ? When I was done with my University studies, I was annoyed to receive my degree on a single piece of paper. I felt cheated remembering all the papers I had spent nights on. I thought in my head…oh my God, I must have at least written 2 books to you and all I get is this single paper ? And I owe you money ? I was really disappointed. So I said to myself, eventually I will write a book and I will not present it to school professors only, I will want to share it with the world, and I will get paid for it. And that could count as my masters from the school of Life," she said.
When asked how she envisions the book will impact your readers, she said she hopes it will serve a wake up call for young people. "My book should wake up the new generation into knowing that our world is dying. I have no clue who blinded our parents, but how in the world can they explain teaching us peace and growing up to leave in a world full of wars, ruled by hypocrisy, driven by greed ? The young generation that will owe China all that money our parents and governments have spent on superficial things, needs to realize that we might as well take charge now and shape our world. My readers are happy to instinctively identify with the concept of a POSITIVISION* common to all religions and beliefs and applicable in their own lives," she said.
As Uwacu embarked on writing her book, she was clear about the overall message she wanted to convey to her audience. "I want my audience to realize that we are in a ship that is going to sink. If we can see it in advance, there is no need to panic because those who will escape in the right way, will actually make it out of their nightmares safe and sound. And they can go on to live their dream lives just as envisioned back then when they were still forging their own POSITIVISION* for their own future and that of the entire ship," she said.
She said writing the book provided her a cathartic experience in exorcising the demons of her past. "For as long as I have lived and traveled in North America and Europe, everyone that I have met, once they hear that I am from Rwanda; they look at me with horror and they want to know if I was there. Even if I wanted to erase war on my mind, it would still find me. And then of course there is the news on TV. Everyday a new country in our world is showing me the images that my people have shown you in the past. When is this going to end ?"
While a university student, she pointed out she was tormented by a sense of shame as other students sought her inside knowledge on genocide in Rwanda. "Even when I was at University, other students used to ask me to read their papers on Rwanda or Africa, just to confirm the facts.. And unfortunately, all the horror they wrote had happened. Most of the times, I was just ashamed I am from these people that have tainted humanity with that much blood," she said.
Uwacu acknowledges that the book will give her readers more insight into her life experience. "It is crazy, but the path of peace has become Utopia, and yet it is the only path in which humans have ever prospered. So in writing this book, I am campaigning for peace…as crazy as it may be. And I figure the book could also answer all those “oh my God how did you get here” questions. “Were you at that hotel Rwanda” ? “When are you going back to visit”, “how did you learn English”?, “do you hate Bill Clinton”?," she said.
"I have never been able to talk about it over coffee in a 15 minutes smoke break. But you can surely read about it over tea or coffee in less than 250 pages. You might even find out; that water could be the drink we fight about in the future. In short, I wrote to ask more questions and to answer as much as I have been asked," she said.
In every author’s experience, there is often a pivotal event that results in the creative process, and Uwau is no exception. "The pivotal event was when I got fired from my corporate job. I lost my insurance coverage of course. I was injured and on unemployment. I was forced to be in bed for more than 6 months.Lets just say it was a dark time. I cursed my employer, I sued him of course.I went through physiotherapy, acupuncture, osteopathy, and all the others…only to run out of money and just go back to alcohol. But eventually, thanks to my visits to the shrink and the notes from our exchanges, not to mention this universal health care thing that Canada has! I graduated from my nightmares with a POSITIVISION* not just for my own future but also for the less fortunate out there," she said.
Uwacu is no stranger to the the effort it can take to promote and sell books, and she’s well-versed in knowing the tedious nature of it all. "The low point in the process of promoting the book is once you have written and published the book and you think you have climbed a mountain. Then you realize that it was just a hill, phase one! Now you have to climb an even bigger mountain most probably in winter…because now you have to sell it ! You have to promote it ! Apparently you are not the only one with a story to tell…and nobody cares that it took you 5 years to write your book and it took the other guy 10 days to write his book. The high point is when people, fans, friends, family and unknown readers (those you would usually call strangers) start writing to you to express how they were so touched and so inspired. And you are wondering which book they are talking about…then you realize it is your book and you’ re like oh my God….no way…say more please…! And tell all your friends ! And they do. Then the story continues." she said.
Apart from writing, Uwacu pursues many endeavors including philanthropy, and she is the founder of a non-profit, POSITIVISION. "My ambitions in this world are summed up into being among the people with the most humanitarian initiatives for our world. I sat down with friends who share common dreams, and the only solution for such a mess was education as so many have already envisioned. So we founded the Canadian non -profit organization focused exclusively on the humanitarian mission to serve the cause of education. I will be using my money to serve my cause. And to follow my number one inspiration. I have already been to visit the villages we plan to build schools for in Mali, West Africa. I am touring and working hard to make sure that in my future books I can tell stories of how I became my own inspiration by following Oprah’s example in giving back," she said.
When asked what other plans she has for the future she said she prefers to live one day at a time. "I have so many plans for the future, I only try to think of the future because tomorrow always sneaks up on me and somehow becomes today. My plans get bigger and bigger as we approach the future because my vision gets clearer. I am enriched everyday, I am blessed to still be present enough to be grateful for even getting through," she said.
Uwacu said she’s made strides related to her fear of death, as a result of her horrific experience in Rwanda. She often has a tendency to become philosophical. "I am so proud to have overcome the fear of hell and dying. I have overcome the fear of flying. And I could care less about airport security. I don’t think that hell could ever top Rwanda, or any other nightmare we keep hearing about. The concept of dying has always been non existent in my culture. When someone “dies” they say “yitabye Imana” meaning; “Imana” (God) literally called him, and off he went. No arguments, nor discussions nothing. It was part of nature. I prayed to survive the massacres, the war, the genocide of 1994, and I did. After that I lived like I had already died, and gone to heaven. My heaven is right here right now. When I get called, it will be to discover our infinite universe. As I understand we have immortality to live. Why spend all after life in one place," she said.
She said now that she’s finally a Canadian citizen with documentation, airport security no longer poses the threat it once did. "And about the airport security; they missed me when I was traveling on fake passports and fabricated visas to get out of Africa, through Europe and eventually come to North America. Today, they profile me, but it is too late. I now have a legitimate Canadian passport, and a real driver’s license. When I travel, I think to myself; I am just a black woman, we might have “attitude”. But we are not known to be terrorists. So I go through security smiling. I am grateful that this is not like all the sweating of back then when I was traveling as a refugee, with no proof of true Identification. But even then, I was still the “innocent” target, that they always pull over, without ever being able to stop. For the hand that protects me is much stronger than all those that have ever been raised to harm me," she said.
© 2009. This article was excerpted with permission from Jackie O’Neal http://onealmediagroup.presskit247.com.
Permission to reprint is granted by the author. All reprints must state, “Reprinted with permission by Jackie O’Neal
from http://onealmediagroup.presskit247.com. Originally published in Media Connections Lab
Permission to reprint is granted by the author. All reprints must state, “Reprinted with permission by Jackie O’Neal
from http://onealmediagroup.presskit247.com. Originally published in Media Connections Lab