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Young People's Page... 2. Ask the survivor
Read Beata Uwanzaninka's story:
My name is Beata and I was born in Rwanda in 1980. At the time of the genocide, I was 14 years old. In March 1994, we were all getting ready to go home from school for the short break at Easter. I remember telling my mother that I didn't want to go home for such a short time. I hated the place anyway because they were killing people for no reason; I was scared. I asked my mother if she should have moved there after a woman had been killed. I can't remember the woman's name because it was a long time ago, but I can still picture her in my mind. She was killed at midday in the sunlight. They said she was a witch – but it was only because she was a Tutsi.
... On 6 April when the President's aeroplane was shot down, I knew nothing until morning when we heard the news. They said the President had been killed – and the Tutsis did it. We were told to stay at home and roadblocks appeared all over the city. I was at my uncle's house with his four daughters, his son and his wife, and our house girl.
Nothing happened on 7 April, but you could hear people outside asking to be forgiven. I remember hearing on the news about a man whose body was found on the road. His face was smashed and his nose had been cut off. That terrified me. Everybody was so afraid.
The next day, I felt ill, as if I had a fever. When I woke up, I found everyone drinking tea. I remember one girl saying that she didn't have to make her bed, she didn't know if she would ever sleep in it again. She told us she could feel something bad was going to happen.... Suddenly, one of the killers came in and said, "If your daughters don't want to marry Hutus, we're going to have them for free now – and we'll kill them as well." They hacked my uncle and he collapsed. The girls ran outside but were caught near the gate and killed as well. The young boy and I ran through the gate at the back of the house that we shared with our neighbours. That's how I survived that day. From that moment on, I never saw my cousin again – or anyone else.... (pp. 246-247, “Treasure Your Mothers and Fathers”, from We Survived: Genocide in Rwanda, Aegis Trust, 2006.
You can ask Beata a question here:
