Ruth Uwineza experienced first-hand the horrors of the Rwandan genocide.She was just 5 when her parents and eight of her nine siblings were slaughtered in the frenzy of killing that claimed the lives of as many as a million people across the country in 1994. Uwineza and one sister somehow survived, but more than a decade after coming to Toronto as a refugee, she’s still haunted by the bloodshed and suffers flashbacks and overwhelming anxiety whenever she has to deal with authorities.Her post-traumatic stress disorder — her family and supporters say — is why it’s been a huge struggle for Uwineza to become a Canadian citizen.For seven years she has tried to pass the citizenship exam and failed three times, despite encouragement from her two children who’ve been helping her study and prepare notes, sometimes in their native Kinyarwanda language, so she could memorize everything she needs to know for the test. But each time she walked into the test centre and looked at the questions on the paper, she says she tensed up and her brain would go “empty.”“I would feel really fearful, have blackouts and forget everything,” said Uwineza, 36, who came to Canada in 2007 under a private sponsorship. “I feel helpless and frustrated. I want to be a full Canadian.”Read more:‘They are gone, and gone forever’: Rwandans now living in Ontario reflect on 25 years since the genocide25 years after Rwanda genocide, survivors forgive killersShe lost her law career when she fled Syria. A new program in Canada helped her get it back on trackAfter her first two failed attempts to pass the test, Uwineza was referred for a psychiatric assessment in 2017 by the Parkdale Community Health Centre, which is helping her with her citizenship quest.It was there that Uwineza was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, a condition that makes it difficult for her to cope with day-to-day functions. She still struggles wi ...
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