His Focus Remains on Game of Survival

Every unstable hour of every unstable day, someone in war-ravaged Rwanda stands the chance of dying violently for daring to be different.

They perish, people of all ages, in a never-ending civil strife between ideologically opposed factions.

It is happening a continent away, far enough for Arthur Karuletwa to feel safe, but not too distant for his thoughts to travel there.

Karuletwa is a freshman on the Ventura College men’s basketball team. He is a 6-foot-6 center who, although used sparingly, earned a spot on one of the premier junior college programs in the nation.

For many, that would be reason to rejoice. But Karuletwa, who came from Rwanda to the United States on a student visa last year, does not allow himself to fully enjoy his new surroundings.

Not when his family is back home, trying to remain politically neutral but never feeling safe.

“Once in a while, I get calls from home and as long as I know everything is OK, then I’m OK,” Karuletwa said.

Karuletwa is Tutsi, a minority group in the small Central African nation where Hutus comprise about 90% of the population. The Hutus ruled Rwanda and in early 1994 massacred at least 500,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus before being ousted in a war with a Tutsi-led army.

Ever since, Hutu insurgents have repeatedly attacked and killed civilians, including foreigners working with aid agencies.

Through it all, Karuletwa tried to lead a normal life. He played basketball at Rugunga High in Kigali, Rwanda’s capital, and mostly kept to his family. Talking to the wrong people--or even walking the streets--was too dangerous.

“I lost a lot of people,” Karuletwa said. “Uncles, cousins. They were all victims of the genocide. I saw people die a few meters from me. Maybe those bullets were intended for me but hit someone else.”

By 1995, his senior year in high school, Karuletwa was helping Rwanda’s national team finish second in the East and Central African tournament in Uganda and thinking of playing at Ventura, which he heard about through his sister in Los Angeles.

The bloodshed in Rwanda and his basketball ability fueled Karuletwa’s interest.

Karuletwa, 21, knew Ventura was a good place to play basketball, but making his way there was another matter. His parents owned a small crop and livestock farm that provided for Karuletwa and his four brothers, but that was hardly the source for financing a dream.

Undaunted, Karuletwa raised money by doing odd jobs and with help from his church, friends and relatives. Last spring, he finally made it to his sister’s place.

“Basically, I rounded up only the air fare to get here,” said Karuletwa, who speaks English, French and a couple of African dialects. “It was a struggle.”

He soon faced another one.

In Rwanda, Karuletwa was considered an elite player. At Ventura, he was unknown and unheralded, just another guy trying out for a powerful team that is consistently loaded with top-drawer personnel.

Karuletwa made the team and moved in with Ventura social sciences instructor Gary Johnson as part of the school’s mentor program.

Still, Karuletwa had emotional barriers to overcome.

“Sometimes, after practice, I would lay down on the bed and look up to the ceiling and ask myself what I was doing here,” Karuletwa said. “But I thought about my people back home and I didn’t want to give up.

“I wish my parents were here to see this. Sometimes, I have tears rolling down my face, just thinking of that.”