Robert — the power of sport

Sport gave Robert a life; Robert used sport to give life back to others

Robert at his factory in Rwanda

Robert’s story shows that sport can save lives — literally in his case. It also shows that sport has the power to transform.

But the key is using sport as a vehicle to strengthen human bonds, character and commitments.

Sport can create recognition, relationship and shared humanity — sometimes even in the most extreme circumstances.

During the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, Robert Bayigamba survived not once but twice because he was recognised through sport: in his case, volleyball.

He was known as Rwanda’s national volleyball captain, and that recognition became a human connection strong enough to interrupt violence and save his life.

Later, as he fled with his family, another connection through volleyball — a national referee and federation leader — helped them cross the border to safety.

As Robert crossed the border, he looked up and made a promise: to dedicate his life to using sport to save other lives.

After the genocide, Rwanda needed more than physical rebuilding. People who had been divided by fear, loss, hatred and trauma needed safe ways to encounter one another again.

Volleyball became one of those spaces.

It was simple, accessible and human: two sticks, a rope, a patch of grass — and people could gather.

Survivors, returnees, diaspora communities and others could come together, play together, talk together, and slowly begin to rebuild trust.

That is the power of sport at its best.

It gives people a shared activity before it asks them to share a story. It allows people to stand on the same side, or across a net, without first needing to resolve everything that divides them.

It lowers the temperature.

It creates rhythm, laughter, movement and teamwork. It gives people a reason to meet again.

Robert understood that reconciliation is not only a national policy. It is a human practice.

It happens through repeated encounters, through ordinary moments, through spaces where people can remember that the person opposite them is not only a label, a history, a tribe, a nationality or an enemy — but a human being.

His use of sport also reached beyond community healing.

Robert’s story reminds us that sport is connected to wellbeing. He cites the example of a 92-year-old man joining weekly exercise and later climbing stadium ladders with confidence. Sport strengthens more than bodies. It builds confidence, belonging, joy and dignity. It helps people feel alive, capable and connected again.

For Champions, Robert is a powerful example of the ripple effect.

Sport saved him; then he used sport to save something in others — trust, hope, health, dignity and community.

His life shows how one person’s story, when joined with agency and purpose, can become a platform for healing far beyond themselves.

Some 10 years later, Robert would meet Glen Ford, founder of Champions. Glen was volunteering in Rwanda to help build the Kigali Genocide Memorial. Robert was the Rwandan Minister for Sports and Culture, with overall responsibility for the Memorial, and had played a key role in helping to raise the necessary funds.

They met again in 2014, as the Memorial was being expanded, and have remained good friends since.

Robert’s story is not simply about volleyball. It is about what sport can become when guided by humanity.

Sport can divide. It can inflate egos, intensify hostility and harden tribal identities.

But with humanity, sport becomes something different: a bridge, a meeting place, a school of character, a tool of reconciliation, and a language of shared humanity.

What Robert’s story means for us

Robert’s story reminds us that sport has the power to reveal who we are — and to shape who we become.

At its worst, sport can become tribal, aggressive and exclusionary.

At its best, it becomes a training ground for humanity. It teaches discipline, courage, fairness, humility, trust, teamwork and respect.

It gives people a shared purpose. It helps strangers become teammates. It helps enemies remember their shared humanity.

Robert shows us that sport is not separate from leadership. It is one of the places where leadership is formed.

His journey from player, to captain, to federation leader, to Minister for Sports and Culture, to President of the Rwandan National Olympic Committee shows the progression from personal excellence to public service.

Most importantly, Robert shows that the true power of sport is not the scoreboard. It is the human connection created along the way.

Sport saved Robert because people knew him.

Sport helped Rwanda because Robert used it to help people know one another again.

That is the deeper lesson: when sport is combined with humanity, it becomes a force multiplier.

It can rebuild trust, restore dignity, strengthen health, bridge divides and create ripples of change across families, communities and even nations.

Not all of us may be interested in sport, but that is not the point.

The point is the power of human connection, teamwork, fun, the inevitable shared heartaches along the way, and the shared joy of success.

Whether through sport or some other passion, Robert’s story reminds us that shared activity can help us learn about ourselves and others — and build genuine bonds of trust, founded on human values.

Sport gave Robert a life; Robert chose to use sport to give life back to others.

What will we choose?