The survival story of
Consolée Nishimwe
My name is Nishimwe Consolée, I survived the Rwandan genocide by miracle, with my mother and my little sister Janet. Unfortunately, I witnessed the murder of my father and my three little brothers, and when the genocide was over in July 1994, I learned than dozens of other relatives were massacred including my paternal grand parents, my maternal grand mother, all my paternal and maternal uncles, many cousins, and many other relatives, close and extended.
I remember very clearly when the genocide happened in Rwanda as if it was yesterday. On April 6th 1994, we heard that the presidential plane was shot down, killing him and all those aboard. My parents knew that killing of tutsis was going to follow and my father decided to take us out of the house the following day. As we left, I saw the killers attacking our house and setting it on fire. We were 9 of us including my parents, 5 of us children, my paternal aunt and her little girl, and our baby sitter. My parents were long time teachers in the area for many years. I was the oldest of 5 children and we were a very happy family. We were hiding outside in the bushes and in some friends’ ceilings until April 15th, when the murderer first found us and killed my father and her sister. Her little girl was taken by a friend who kept her and we were separated from that time on. After the killing of my father and my aunt, I felt like my heart was ripped off. Our baby sitter who was a hutu was very scared and decided to leave us to save her own life. We were now only six of us left. I saw my father running not to come back again. My mother tried to continue hiding us in the bushes till May 9th 1994, when the murderers found us again and decided to kill the boys first, saying that the girls will be killed last. My little brothers’ names and age were: Philbert, 9 years old, Pascal, 7 years old, and the youngest, Bon-Fils 2 years old. I will never forget when the murderers found us, one of them who was a neighbor of my maternal grand mother’s, who grew up with my mother took the children away from her, led them to our family burnt down house with other murderers. They killed them with machetes, and threw their little bodies in our septic tank. They came back saying that they just killed them, and told the 3 of us that we have to wait for our turn soon. My mother completely lost her mind and was begging the murderers to kill us all, but they refused, saying that they will kill us last on their own decision. In July 1994, the RPF (Rwandan Patriotic Front) stopped the genocide by force and took over the country leadership.
Those murderers who had decided to kill us last were surprised by the arrival of the RPF where we were hiding, and they fled for their own lives before they kill us. The people who were hiding us took us to the French military garrison, and the French soldiers took us to the RPF controlled area. We were safe. I started a difficult life seeing my mother agonizing over the murder of my father and my three little brothers, and the murder of all our immediate and extended family members. Eventually, we went back where our home used to be, and we could not even rebuild the ruins of what used to be our family house. The murders of my three little brothers dumped their little bodies in our family septic tank, and it was hard for each one of us especially my mother, even to look at that place. We have lived a very difficult life since then. Through it all however, I thank God because I can now understand that He has a purpose for me. Through War Survivors Ministries God gave me a new family that loves me and that I love dearly. I feel that God is calling me to reach out to the orphans and the widows of genocide and AIDS, and bring a word of hope to them, to educate the young people about HIV/AIDS in order to stop the spread of this terrible disease that has left incredible numbers of orphans in the world, just like the Rwandan genocide has left many orphans in Rwanda.
