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Excerpts by permission of Publisher

Chapter 6 – Open the Floodgates of Hate

April 7, 1994, was a Thursday. We awoke to a radio announcement accompanied by classical music. It ordered everyone to stay at home. President Juvénal Habyarimana and President Cyprien Ntaryamira of Burundi had died in a fiery plane crash the evening before. The plane returning from peace negotiations in Tanzania, had been shot down as it neared the runway of the Kigali airport. The stunning news left us paralyzed. What lay ahead of us? Until that day, we had been living a relatively quiet life despite the volatile situation in Rwanda (83).

After two days of curfew, the radio announced that people could go to the market on certain days. Despite our nervousness, we decided to venture out to replenish our supplies. At the marketplace, people’s faces had changed. Some refused to look at us or return our greetings (84).

Rumors spread like wildfire. Hutu Power radio (RTLM) charged the Tutsi rebels (Inkotanyi) with killing the two Hutu presidents. In the streets, each one believed the rumor that fit his or her political views. On that day it became abundantly clear that UN forces were powerless to protect civilians … . It was too late for the Tutsi to flee. Thousands died that first day (84).

On April 12, 1994, one week after the crash, my good friend Innocent, a Hutu … , appeared at our house in a panic. He had learned from his workmate who was married to a military man that all Tutsi would be killed regardless of their beliefs, political opinions, or behavior. He confirmed that a systematic plan already existed to slaughter all Tutsi in Rwanda. He and his friends had come to help us flee across the Burundian border. They went to find a safe route, but it was too late. Militiamen with spears, clubs, grenades, knives, and machetes patrolled all roads and footpaths (85).

We had nowhere to run. Hutu Power radio announced … names, addresses, and license plate numbers. Radio Rwanda instructed listeners on how and where to hunt down their victims, officially praising zealots for doing so (86).

Ordinary killers could be seen with a machete in one hand and a transistor radio in the other as they went forth in their mission to hunt down men, women, and children and to chop the “cockroaches” to death (86-87).

As dawn broke on April 21, we heard gunshots and explosions. Angry flames leaped fiercely from burning houses … (88).

[While] children were sleeping, playing, or enjoying life on other continents. I was going to experience an event that would leave a mark on me forever. That day, it became evident that we were going to die if we were not able either to flee the country or be hidden by neighbors (174-175).—Marie age 14

[Our] workers saw the danger we were in and decided to stay with us. We felt very touched by their loyalty, but we worried about their safety. Alphonsine, our Hutu housemaid, was very kind and loving towards us, and she deplored what was happening to the Tutsi (90).

I gathered Chantal and the children in our living room and spoke a beseeching prayer to the almighty God, Jehovah. At the end, we all said “Amen.” Then we all fell into an exhausted silence and waited (91).

Chapter 5 – Stepping Into The Maelstrom (1988-1994)

Chapter 7 – Amidst Friend and Foe