Survivors Fund

Survivors Fund, commonly known as SURF, is a United Kingdom-based charitable organization established in 1997 to represent and support survivors of the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. It operates between the United Kingdom and Rwanda, with offices in London and Kigali, and is registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales. The organization describes its role as both practical and representative: it helps finance and coordinate projects for survivors while bringing their experiences and continuing needs to public attention internationally. SURF was founded by Mary Kayitesi Blewitt, a British citizen of Rwandan origin, after the 1994 genocide in which she lost approximately 50 members of her family. Immediately after the genocide ended in July 1994, Blewitt volunteered with Rwanda’s Ministry of Rehabilitation. During roughly eight months in the country, she helped with the burial of victims and with assistance to survivors. That experience led her to establish an organization in the United Kingdom that could mobilize external support and provide survivors with a sustained international voice. The charity’s work covers several interconnected areas. Its healthcare activities respond to physical injuries, mental-health needs, HIV and AIDS, trauma, aging, and the cost of accessing Rwanda’s public health-insurance system. Its education work has included support for survivors and for second-generation survivors, especially people who were not fully covered by existing government assistance schemes. SURF has also emphasized vocational training and pathways from education into employment. Housing projects address the continued vulnerability of survivors living without secure, safe, or adequately maintained homes. Justice-related advocacy focuses on survivors’ safety, access to rights, and the consequences of former genocide perpetrators returning to local communities after confession or release through Rwanda’s gacaca process. Memory work includes supporting burial initiatives and preserving survivor testimony. SURF works with Rwandan survivor organizations and other specialist partners, including IBUKA, AVEGA, AERG, GAERG, Uyisenga N’Manzi, and Solace Ministries. These relationships allow the charity to channel assistance through organizations rooted in survivor communities and to address different groups, including widows, students, graduates, children, and people living with HIV/AIDS. The organization’s public positioning is that of a survivor-centered humanitarian and advocacy charity rather than a commercial brand. Its activities combine fundraising, direct project support, public education, representation, and campaigns concerning survivor security and remembrance. The charity’s work reflects the long-term nature of the genocide’s consequences: poverty, insecure housing, health problems, trauma, unemployment, intergenerational disadvantage, and the difficulty of rebuilding lives alongside people connected to the violence. SURF remains focused on survivor welfare, dignity, justice, memory, and the transmission of survivor testimony to wider audiences.

The Survivors Fund was created in the United Kingdom in 1997 in response to the continuing needs of survivors of the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. Its founder, Mary Kayitesi Blewitt, was a British citizen of Rwandan origin who lost about 50 family members during the 1994 genocide. After the genocide ended in July 1994, she returned to Rwanda and volunteered for approximately eight months with the Ministry of Rehabilitation. Her work included helping to bury victims and assisting survivors. The experience convinced her that survivors needed both practical support and an organization capable of communicating their concerns to international audiences. SURF developed as a specialist charity with a remit focused specifically on Rwandan genocide survivors. It established a presence in London for fundraising, advocacy, and public engagement, and an operational presence in Kigali for work connected to survivors and local partners. The charity became registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales. Rather than functioning as a conventional commercial organization, it has operated through charitable projects, partnerships, public education, and representation. Its program areas reflect the breadth of the post-genocide crisis. Healthcare work has addressed physical injuries, HIV and AIDS, mental-health conditions, trauma, aging, and access to public health insurance. Education programs have supported survivors and younger people affected by the genocide, including second-generation survivors who were not always eligible for the same government assistance available to earlier survivor cohorts. SURF has also identified vocational preparation and employment access as important because academic schooling alone does not resolve youth unemployment or household poverty. Housing has been another central concern. Many vulnerable survivors have lacked secure homes or have lived in housing requiring substantial renovation. Insecure shelter compounds the effects of poverty, illness, and psychological trauma. SURF has therefore supported housing-related projects intended to provide safer and more stable living conditions. The organization’s justice and security work developed in the context of Rwanda’s gacaca community-justice system and the release or reintegration of people who had confessed to genocide crimes. SURF publicized the fear and insecurity experienced by survivors who might have to live near individuals involved in the murder, rape, or persecution of their families. Its advocacy has treated survivor safety and the enforcement of survivor rights as continuing issues rather than matters resolved by the end of the trials. Memory and testimony have formed a further strand of the organization’s work. SURF has supported efforts to locate and rebury victims whose remains remained in trenches, churches, latrines, hills, and other sites. It has also been associated with initiatives to document survivor testimony, including work with the USC Shoah Foundation Institute. These activities connect personal remembrance with historical record-keeping and public education. SURF collaborates with Rwandan survivor bodies including IBUKA, AVEGA, AERG, GAERG, Uyisenga N’Manzi, and Solace Ministries. Through these relationships it can address the needs of widows, students, graduates, children, people living with HIV/AIDS, and other vulnerable groups. The organization’s continuing rationale is that Rwanda’s reconstruction has not removed the genocide’s long-term effects. Survivors may still face trauma, illness, poverty, unemployment, insecure housing, intimidation, and intergenerational disadvantage. SURF consequently combines relief and development support with advocacy for dignity, justice, security, and remembrance.

• 1998

  Government survivor assistance framework begins

  [1]Survivors Funden.wikipedia.org

  The Government Assistance Fund for Vulnerable Genocide Survivors became an important source of education and welfare support, while SURF continued addressing gaps affecting vulnerable and second-generation survivors.

• 1997

  Survivors Fund founded

  [1]Survivors Funden.wikipedia.org

  SURF was established in the United Kingdom as a specialist organization representing and supporting survivors of the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.

• 1994

  Founder works with Rwanda’s Ministry of Rehabilitation

  [1]Survivors Funden.wikipedia.org

  After the genocide ended, Mary Kayitesi Blewitt spent approximately eight months assisting survivors and helping with the burial of victims, an experience that led to the creation of SURF.

NGO and survivor-centered humanitarian advocacy charity

• Humanitarian and charitable services · 1997

  Survivor support projects

  SURF supports projects designed for survivors of the Genocide against the Tutsi, including assistance related to healthcare, mental health, HIV and AIDS, public health insurance, poverty, and aging. The work is delivered in cooperation with survivor organizations and other local partners rather than as a commercial product line.

• Education and employment assistance

  Education and vocational support

  The organization supports educational opportunity for survivors and second-generation survivors, with particular attention to groups that have not benefited equally from existing public assistance. Its education-related approach includes scholarships or other assistance and an emphasis on vocational training that can help young people move from school into employment.

• Shelter and housing

  Housing rehabilitation

  SURF supports efforts to provide vulnerable survivors with safer and more stable accommodation. Housing work responds to the continuing effects of destroyed property, poverty, ill health, and the inability of many households to pay for construction, rent, or essential repairs.

• Remembrance and documentation

  Memory and testimony programs

  Memory work includes support for the recovery and burial of victims’ remains and the preservation of survivor accounts. SURF has worked with partners, including the USC Shoah Foundation Institute, on recording testimony so that survivors’ experiences remain part of the historical record.

• Gacaca prisoner-release awareness campaign

  United Kingdom · Rwanda · International

  SURF highlighted the threats and insecurity that survivors could face when prisoners returned to communities after confessing to genocide crimes through gacaca proceedings. The campaign connected prisoner reintegration with survivor safety, intimidation, harassment, and the enforcement of survivors’ rights.

  Outcome. The campaign increased international attention to the continuing security concerns of survivors, although no specific campaign outcome is documented in the supplied sources.

  Source

• 1997

  Establishment of a specialist survivor-centered charityStrategy

  Background

  The founder’s post-genocide experience and requests from survivors created a need for an organization able to provide assistance while representing survivors internationally.

  Action taken

  Mary Kayitesi Blewitt established Survivors Fund in the United Kingdom with a remit focused specifically on survivors of the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.

  Aftermath

  SURF developed a cross-border operating model involving London-based fundraising and advocacy, Kigali-based activity, and collaboration with Rwandan survivor organizations.

  Source

• Survivors Fund campaigns on risks associated with gacaca-related prisoner releases[1]Survivors Funden.wikipedia.org

  Campaign · Other

  SURF raised public awareness about the security risks faced by survivors when people convicted or accused of genocide crimes returned to local communities after Rwanda’s gacaca process.

• Survivors Fund supports long-term survivor welfare and remembrance work[2]Survivors Fund official websitesurvivors-fund.org.uk

  Other

  The organization continues to describe survivor needs in healthcare, education, housing, justice, safety, and memory preservation as ongoing consequences of the genocide.

1. 1Survivors Funden.wikipedia.org
2. 2Survivors Fund official websitesurvivors-fund.org.uk