Cameroun-born artist Elyon (Joelle Ebene) travelled to Rwanda with the research team and fellow artist Michel Kichka, in March 2024. During this trip, funded by the University of Aberdeen, she had the opportunity of visiting memorials and meeting with survivors. Elyon was keen to connect with a female survivor from within Rwanda, and was put in touch with Madeleine Mukarwego, a well-known elder from the district of Karongi, through her stepson, who also served as translator.

In October 2024, Elyon and the team met with Madeleine in Belgium, to commence the interviews for the graphic novel. Film maker Marc Ellison also visited Madeleine in her home near Lake Kivu, to visit key places of her story. His film a ‘Compassionate Heart’ shows the process behind the graphic novel documenting Madeleine’s experience of the genocide.

Madeleine was born into a relatively poor rural area of Rwanda and was a mother to six children at the time of the genocide. She miraculously survived the massacre of Tutsi civilians who sought refuge at a local church by feigning death, and subsequently hiding in her community, before fleeing to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). As a refugee and later after returning to Rwanda, she was gradually reunited with her family – by then consisting of her own children and several adopted orphans, including her stepson who served as her translator during the graphic novel interview process.