Father Valens Ngiruwonsanga was among the youngest survivors of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi which took the lives of one million victims. The massacre spanned 100 days with a genocidal militia using clubs and machetes to kill neighbors and friends. Father Valens’ survival was a miracle.
Little 4-year-old Valens was found by peacekeepers strapped to his dead mother’s back, having been beaten and left for dead by the attackers who slaughtered his mother, father, sister, and extended family. Deep wounds on his head bled for almost four years.
Sent to an orphanage, his life was again spared when murderous militias came in the middle of the night, as they had done to many orphanages, and shot to death the boys to his right and left, and another boy in the dormitory across the way.
Rescued at 7 years-old by one of his few surviving relatives, little Valens went to live with his uncle, Father Ubald Rugirangoga who escaped the genocide after being ordered by his Bishop to flee; Father Ubald ultimately founded the Center for the Secret of Peace. Schooling at a minor seminary went well for Valens until he was 15 years-old when he began to comprehend what had happened to him. He was in school with the children of the perpetrators who still had families. His life spiraled downward for three years as hate, resentment, and a loss of trust in all adults caused him to quit school and fall into despair.
Through the constant prayers and guidance of his uncle, and the intercession of Our Lady of Kibeho who told him, “Valens, I kept you for me,” Valens found the strength to choose God over alienation; forgiveness over resentment, and a life of love over the death of hatred. His natural joy reappeared and he returned to school where he began discerning a call to the priesthood.
Ordained in 2019, he served in parishes in youth ministry, beginning to understand how his painful journey prepared him so well to walk alongside the secondary victims of those horrible events: the children of the victims, the children of the perpetrators, and the children of rape (which had been used as a weapon of war). His goals: to guide the youth to choose God and recognize their identity and inherent dignity as children of a loving God who made them on purpose for a purpose.
Returning to school again, Father Valens is finishing a masters in practical theology, a program focused on how to live the Gospels, not just preach them. He also has assigned ministries visiting the sick and homebound, as well as leading retreats and pilgrimages for youth to the shrine of Our Lady of Kibeho.
