The Men Who Killed Me: Rwandan Survivors of Sexual Violence

In concert with the 100 days of the Rwandan genocide, “between 250,000 and 500,000 women and girls were raped,” commonly with extraordinary brutality by Hutu militias and occasionally even by those sent to save them. From interviews that took place in 2008 under the auspices of a “survivor-run organization,” de Brouwer and Chu redact oral accounts of 17 rape survivors, including one male. In the dire aftermath of the traumatic assaults, 70% of the survivors are now HIV positive and suffer the added trauma of isolation and alienation. The editors introduce the survivors' testimonials with a brief, lucid account of the events in Rwanda supplemented by a list of “sexual violence in conflict situations” around the world. The grim testimonials are followed by a clarion call by Eve Ensler (The Vagina Monologues ), whose afterword exhorts readers to “end this violence,” and a list of organizations dedicated to aiding the survivors. Muscati's 35 b&w photographs of the survivors and their families are as moving and unforgettable as their words. (Sept.)