Bringing Hope: Healing and Rebuilding Our Communities (HROC)

As we are planning our trip to Rwanda, we are working very closely with Healing and Rebuilding Our Communities (HROC). HROC (pronounce HE-rock) is a program of the African Great Lakes Initiative, whose mission is to “strengthen, support, and promote peace activities at the grassroots level in the Great Lakes region of Africa (Burundi, Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda)."

The HROC program is designed to build trust and promote reconciliation in post-conflict communities in East Africa. While the program has been implemented in several parts of the region, we will be focusing on the HROC workshops occurring in the Lake Kivu region of Rwanda, near the city of Gisenyi. What is remarkable about this program (and one of the many reasons we are so excited to work with them) is that it brings together people from both parts of the community, so that Tutsis and Hutus are working through this process together, rather than working toward healing in only one part of the community.

The HROC workshop is separated into three phases. First, a “Sense of Safety” is created for the participants to help build trust and a willingness to share. This is a critical part of the workshop, especially when one considers the fact that there are perpetrators and survivors in the same room. After this, participants move into a stage of “Remembrance and Mourning,” in which they have the opportunity to talk through their trauma of the genocide and their grief. Not only does this portion of the workshop allow participants to walk through their pain and begin to experience healing on an individual level, but it also enables them to hear the pain that everyone involved (both Tutsi and Hutu) has experienced as a result of the genocide. Once the group has completed the process of remembering and mourning, they move to the “Reconnection” stage. This portion of the workshop helps to bring closure and remind the participants that they are not alone in their grief. After completing the workshop, some participants choose to receive additional training to become peer counselors to continue to help others walk through their grief. 

As part of our preparation for our work in Rwanda, we had the opportunity to join a HROC training workshop in our area in January. It was truly an emotional weekend, as each of us was encouraged to walk through our own trauma and grief. It certainly deepened my own understanding of what trauma is and the effects it has on both individuals and communities. We are privileged to continue working with HROC and will be joining a HROC workshop while in Rwanda. After experiencing HROC here in the United States, we are eager to participate in this healing and reconciliation process alongside Rwandans.

Wondering what HROC looks like in practice? You can click here to view a video clip on YouTube about the HROC workshop.