Resilience sees Rwandan ICT geek through life
By Edmund Kagire Rwanda Today
Posted Friday, February 14 2014 at 22:05
When the activities leading to Kwibuka20 were launched in January,
Marcel Mutsindashyaka, 25, was described as one of the many young
people who "epitomise the spirit of Rwanda" for their resilience and
defying the odds to make it in life.
When he was only five years old, Mr Mutsindashyaka witnessed the
horrors of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsis. And although he could
not fathom what was going on then, he recalls everything vividly.
When the genocide broke out on April 7, Mr Mutsindashyaka, who was
born in Nduba Sector, Gasabo District, moved with his family to the
nearby Bumbogo Catholic Parish where most Tutsis in the area sought
refuge hoping to be protected by the priests.
"Most people thought the church would provide a safe haven," Mr
Mutsindashyaka said. "I don't remember much because, at five, one's
brain cannot capture everything, but I still have the grim pictures of
the genocide in my mind. It's the only thing I remember about my
childhood."
He would lose most of his relatives in the killings that swept through
Rwanda for 100 days.
The priests gave him and his family a place to hide but soon more
people arrived and the clergymen moved the "refugees" to a nearby
church. Crammed in there, they went for days without food or water.
When they got information that there were many people hiding in the
church, the Interahamwe militia raided the parish. They picked out all
the men and boys deemed to be strong and took them to an unknown
place. Only women and children, including Mr Mutsindashyaka, were left
behind. But not for long.
"They came for the women and children," Mr Mutsindashyaka recalled.
"They made us walk a very long distance, from Gishaka, where the
parish was, to Karama.
"Interahamwe militia surrounded us; no one could escape. They took us
to a place called Mukabuga, to a house in which they would kill us.
They had removed the roofing and blocked the windows and doors."
Died in the stampede
The killers had fixed ladders onto the building, up which they forced
their victims to climb over the wall and fall inside.
"The house was filling up fast. More people just fell inside, breaking
limbs. In fact, most people died in this stampede.
"My sister, who was carrying me on her back, and I were among the last
to climb in. People were almost at the roof level, most of them
already dead, I guess due to suffocation, injuries or even hunger
since they had spent days without food or water."
The killers climbed into the house and hacked and clobbered those
still alive as they asked those with money to surrender it to stay
alive. They then added a layer of bricks on the walls to make it
easier to torch the house.
"As we awaited our fate, a man who was part of the gang but was a
family friend told other militias to free me and my sister, as well as
our other relatives whom he knew, but some who were badly injured
declined the offer," added Mr Mutsindashyaka. "He took us to us to his
family home, where he hid us.
http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/Rwanda/News/Resilience-sees-Rwandan-ICT-geek-through-life/-/1433218/2207394/-/qbok5jz/-/index.html
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