Dr. Tharcisse Seminega will tell his story of survival during the massacre in Rwanda in 1994 as part of the Holocaust Lecture Series at Sonoma State University at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, May 10 in Ives Hall in Warren Auditorium.
Seminega and his family of six, all of the Tutsi tribe, were saved by members of the Hutu tribe who risked their lives to hide them. For two and a half months they stayed first in a hut for goats and later in a hole in the earth where they could not leave or even speak. All of them miraculously survived.
Seminega and his wife together lost more than one hundred relatives in the genocide. After these tragic and traumatic events they decided to immigrate to Canada and are currently living in Toronto.
Seminega is fluent in many languages, has a bachelors of science in biological science, a masters degree in nutrition and food science and a Ph.D. in Biotechnology and Food Industry.
Also speaking will be Mathilde Mukantabana, who founded "Friends of Rwanda" an organization which supports orphans in Rwanda. Two Sonoma State students who worked with Mukantabana in Rwanda last year will also be present.
The event free and is open to the public.
