THE SONIA GISA STORY

TRIUMPH IN THE DARKEST NIGHT

We love and appreciate Africa and our hope is that the rest of the world also sees the beauty in that amazing continent, however some of the most terrible inhumanities have also occurred in Africa. We cannot overlook the pain and sufferings of many people in Africa; to do so would be atrocious. We present to you the story of a woman who saw these first hand and rose to tell her story unlike many people whose voices died in the grave. Hers is a story of a woman who endured untold hardship during the war in Rwanda, a story that would baffle the minds of most people in modern societies....it is almost impossible to grasp. Man's inhumanity to man. Yet she saw the light.

For the next few days, you are about to get transfixed by the story of Sonia Gisa.

At an age when kids were free and playing innocently in the yard, she saw deaths by the thousands. A war that killed her family.... many people did not make it out alive, but she did and rose to prominence. A reminder that no matter how dark your life may be, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Never give up!

BronzePage! We do it like no one else.

SONIA SPEAKS TO BRONZEPAGE

Sonia Gisa was only 3 years old when her family was forced to flee from their home in Rusenga, Rwanda. To keep them safe, her father decided they should separate because the men were the ones that were mostly being killed. That was the last time Sonia saw him alive. He was killed! Then the family (comprising of her mother, her three sisters and baby brother) endured about two months of near starvation and sickness as they took refuge in a school. It was too much for her brother, he did not make it...he died. The family had to flee again...this time she lost her sisters and her mother …she was now alone and as fate would have it, she moved in with her aunt. It is an experience that still haunts her.

We asked her!

BronzePage:'Your parents were killed in 1994, you did not leave for Europe till you were about 18, how did you cope?

Sonia Gisa: ''A major part of my direct (and not direct) family perished in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. It is something that, even 31 years later, I still struggle to understand how humans can turn against their own... to that extent.

Although many governmental programs were put in place to help with school fees and a few other basic needs, I bonded with my cousins, and despite all we had lost, we had a happy childhood surrounded by nature.

It wasn’t until I was 18 years old that the opportunity arose for me to go to Europe, and I had the chance to redefine myself on my own terms.

So, that’s when the journey toward my biggest dreams started and now, here we are''.

(Three decades later, the experience is still too much for her. BronzePage decided to stop the interview and switch our focus to what she has become and the bright lights ahead.

Her tragic experience is well documented in the book : Slaughter Baby. You can find it on Amazon.

RISE TO THE TOP

In 2009, Sonia Gisa moved to Belgium from Rwanda; she was 18 years old and faced a whole new world. She was like a stranger in a strange land. The adjustment was not easy as she had to learn the language and be able to communicate well, she also dealt with life in a new school, coupled with trying to get a job and an apartment. Sonia was determined and each time she met the struggle with resolved strength.

She discovered her love for modelling and threw herself into it when the opportunity arose. She became one of the top models representing such major brands as Dior, Gucci, Yves-Saint -Laurent, Dolce and Gabanna, Moschino.

It was as if the future opened up for her. She delved into beauty pageantry and represented Rwanda in Miss Supranatural. The final event was held in Poland in December, 2014. Sonia won !! She told BronzePage '' It was sensational, I went home with the title of Miss Supranatural Africa.....it was the first time the crown went to Rwanda'.

Talk about redemption! What an irony, the very country where she experienced untold pain and tragedy, the same country where her life was almost destroyed, it was that same country, she represented and placed on the world map.

She also took part in Miss Grand International, which took place in Las Vegas in 2016.

Sonia told BronzePage "It was an incredible experience, and I learned a lot from it. Beauty pageants played a big role in helping me feel confident on stage and in public speaking. Additionally, you get to meet and connect with different contestants representing their own countries you discover new cultures and build an international friendship circle''.

RISE TO THE TOP

Sonia Gisa is now an International Model and Actress, United Nations Goodwill Agent, War child Charity Ambassador, Advocate for ' Let Them Play" (Children belong on the playing fields not the battlefields) Author, Life Coach and Motivational speaker. She now resides in London.

'' I ask myself, how did a little girl born in a small village in Rusenga, Rwanda get here''

'I get asked, ''How do you manage to display a personal smile and love life with everything you have gone through?'' I answer, I have more reasons to smile, when you escape death you learn the value of each moment'

''When I was parading (Modeling), I didn't think of anything else, I was 100% concentrated in the present....it was the most glorious moment of my life, there was no more painful childhood, no more trauma attacks or nightmares. I was simply blessed. I never thought that such a feeling could exist, that such a feeling of gratitude for life could be possible."

…."I have come to terms with the unsettling memories of this -anything but innocent childhood, and built a new strength to become myself. I turned what was an unbearable burden into a force for fearless progress, propelling me to London and into the world of the most prestigious players in Fashion'.

(Last word from BronzePage:)

'Speechless ….that so much Love, Grace, Humility, Kindness and Gratitude could come out of a woman who witnessed so much pain and human brutality especially at an age when other kids where playing in the fields.''

Words are not enough!!

She is a message to anyone going through trials: Never Give Up! Don't even think about it !! Life has so much in store for you'.