Gahizi Ganza Dieudonne

Ganza Gahizi (born 18 August 1985 in Rutana, Burundi) is a Rwandan-British filmmaker. His family returned to Rwanda in 1994 when he was 9 years old. This was the same time as the Rwandan Genocide against the Tutsi was taking place, and his father who was a political activist with the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), in August 1994 they returned to his home country Rwanda, his father was hoping to reunite with his parents and siblings after 21 years in exile, when the genocide ended he travelled to Cyangugu in Western province of Rwanda where all his family lived but found out that all his six siblings were murdered during the genocide with their families, and later he was unfortunately died too in 1997, but more than 50 people from Gahizi's family were killed during 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. And this motivated Gahizi's childhood dream to help vulnerable people especially those affected by the Genocide.

He attended the National University of Rwanda and graduated in 2011 with a Degree in Applied Statistics. He Studied filming as a short course and his first project was a documentary called "One Day of a Blind Student". The story follows a blind man who entered University despite his belief that he could not go for higher education because of his disability. The documentary received multiple national awards. Gahizi reached international recognition with his second documentary called "Change and I Mean It", which won him the Shivdasani worldwide award in the best documentary category in London-UK. 

Gahizi lost so many people during the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi which inspired him to seek support for the genocide victims. He has dedicated himself to documenting stories of genocide against the Tutsi especially of rape victims and their children born of rape. Gahizi took leadership and interest in changing and empowering their lives through his organisation he formed known as Best Hope Rwanda. The Charity registered in Rwanda with a mission to improve the lives of the rape victims and seek support that intend to help their psychosocial, medical, educational and economic struggle, which facilitate their re-integration into the community and to increase their ability to be self-reliant. 

Gahizi has been awarded for his humanitarian achievements including his recent paper and documentary on 'Genocides impact on children born of rape in 1994' and supporting vulnerable people in Rwanda. He has also received multiple local and international awards because of his outstanding achievement. Gahizi is married to Ingrid Ikirezi and they are currently living in the United Kingdom.