Daphrose Mukangarambe
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Below is an excerpt from Daphrose's testimony:
Daphrose Mukangarambe lived with her five children, and her husband, in Ruhango. They lived comfortably and in peace, as farmers, until the genocide.
When the genocide started I was at Ruhango, and my family and I decided to seek shelter in a local school. Many Tutsis' flocked there thinking there would be security in numbers. Despite resistance for a week, 16,000 corpses were counted later.
The Interhamwe burnt the school down and the church next door. Many people were killed by machete trying to flea the burning buildings. All night you could hear children crying, mothers yelling. It was not of this world.
I don't know how husband died but I think he joined the barricade to us and was shot. I was with my children in water pots. The Interahamwe were killing everything moved, and throwing grenades into rooms. My eldest killed. I managed carrying my two youngest but in the confusion lost my two other children.
We sought shelter in the home of an old man who lived nearby. He could shelter us for only one night because his home was full of many other Tutsis in hiding. We then hid in a banana plantation but our thirst forced us to seek water. That is where we met our fate. I think I was deaf or confused, but I didn't see or hear the killers coming. My baby was killed with a machete by a man called Sebuyinja. He was our neighbour.
I was hit and beaten until there was no life left in me. Then my last child was hit with a club on the head. She died. I saw dogs drag away her body. I was hit with a machete on my forehead. I fell unconscious. When I came to my senses, local children were hitting me and calling me names.
I was helped finally by local Twas, who took me to the RPF who admitted me to hospital.
The entire episode is beyond imagination. When I think about it I feel ill. I sometimes call out to God to take the thoughts away. Words cannot explain the reality of that time.
Ruhango School, where Daphrose and her family were sheltering, was attacked. She managed to escape but was caught whilst hiding in a banana plantation. She almost died of machete wounds at the hands of the Interahamwe, but was helped by local Twas and the RPF. Her family were not as lucky.
The RPF took me to hospital, where I weighed just 29kgs, so thin that I looked no older than a nine old. Fellow survivors saw to it that I received food and soon I started to learn to walk again. My nephew stayed with me in hospital, he gave me shelter. relied big sticks to move around, but I managed to gain weight. I still could not chew hard I had an operation on jaw. One of eyes still damaged and I cannot with it. I do not have lower jaw, but I slowly beginning to hear again.
I live now on the AVEGA estate in Nyagasambu. Joining AVEGA has helped me a great deal because I now realise that I am not alonein enduring the consequences of genocide. I must live with the damage, and by accepting my new circumstances I will live longer. Recently released gacaca prisoners who confessed to killing in my hometown told me where they buried my two older children. We found many bodies, which we buried. I can't get over the grief and sorrow of losing my children.
I try not to think about my life because it hurts so much. I only have to look at myself in the mirror to see the legacy of the genocide. The scars on my face and neck and the scars in my heart are a daily reminder to me of what happened. Despite all my problems though, I have survived. I have AVEGA to thank. Giving me a house was the best gift. Whether I am sad, hungry, sick or grieving I have a safe and secure space where I can put my head down and cry. But I know I am not alone and I thank God that I have made it this far.
Daphrose's full testimony is a available as as PDF download. View Daphrose's testimony (PDF: 181KB).