RETELL:
Immaculee, Vianney and Augustine were now at Pastor Murinzi's house, hoping to find refuge hiding somewhere in his house while the genocide continued. Arriving there, they saw many people they recognized, all there for the same reason. (Although most of them were Hutus, just visiting) The first person she saw was her old elementary school teacher, Buhoro. So relieved to see someone she knew, she ran to him and gave him a warm smile and put her hand out for him to shake. He looked down at her hand, rejecting the shake and clicked his tongue in disgust before turning away. She had always known he was a Hutu man, but until that very moment, she did not know he was an extremist Hutu, meaning he 100% detested Tutsis. Leaving the room in shame, she was so happy to have seen her BEST friend Janet from primary school. Throwing her arms around her, she yelled, "Janet! Oh, I'm so happy to see you. It's been so horrible for me these past few days; the world has gone crazy. People are being murdered all over the village, and we've been treated like dogs... Thank God you're here, it's good to see a friendly face." Wouldn't you be glad to see your best friend in the midst of all this horror? Janet clearly wasn't. She responded, "I don't know what you can be thinking Immaculee, I'm certainly not going to hide you, and neither will my father. We don't hide Tutsis in our home." Disgusted, she grabbed her purse and walked out of the house without daring to look back. Immaculee was completely heartbroken. Everything was just going so wrong. Now, Augustine was demanding he go home, back to Kigali. Immaculee assured him that it was not safe out there whatsoever, and that they could not harm him because he was Hutu. Obviously at this point in your life, you start to lose optimism. You think of all the negative things that could happen to you. In Augustine's case, he ressembled a Tutsis. He had overheard people in the house whispering that he was a member of the RPF (Tutsis rebels determined to stop the genocide) who came to spy on the Hutu citizens. Although he was Hutu himself, he was terrified they would not believe him and give him the chance to prove this by showing them his identity card. Somehow, Immaculee still managed to stay positive and comfort him.
Later on during this awful day, while Immaculee had been resting, she heard her brother Damascene's voice, thinking she had been dreaming. She hurried down the hall to find her brother who soon informed her that he had been separated from his parents after the killers had burned down their house. Their beautiful house that their father had recently finished building for his wife with his own two hands. It was to be their retirement castle, and seeing it destroyed surely broke his heart. He then explained that Dad felt responsible for the presence of all the thousands of Tutsis stationed in front of their house, so he marched down to the burgomaster begging for protection. Little did he know, he was being fooled. Mr. Kabayi had granted him his offer sending two soldiers to walk him back home. On the way, one of the soldiers asked, "What kind of idiot are you? How stupid can you be, thinking that the burgomaster sent us to protect you and all the cockroaches? These cockroaches need to be exterminated!" The soldiers fired their guns, gesturing for the killers to arrive on scene. This is when all the scared Tutsis ran for their lives watching as the house burnt down. It was now time for Damascene to leave the packed house, not being able to stay with the others because many people had seen him make his way over wich would lead the killers to Immaculee. (And the Pastor did not like their father to begin with, so he would not accept Damascene) Instead, he would make his way to a great Hutu friend, Bonn, who would certainly hide him. Immaculee walked her dearest brother to the gate, not able to say goodbye knowing that that may be the last time she'd ever look at his beautiful face. He put his hand in hers, until he slowly let go, smiled sadly and stepped through that gate into hell.
RELATE:
I think I chose the hardest book to relate to? I, in no way possible can relate to this outstanding story. There have been no situations in my life where I was forced to leave my house due to killers out in the street wanting to do horrific things to not only me, but my whole community. I don't think I have ever had as much faith at this courageous woman has. She hardly gave up always able to comfort people in their time of need even when she herself was living in the same problem. I guess I could relate to her in that sense, because I am always willing to help others in THEIR time of need. I just don't think I could keep up with the optimism in such a time, at all times.
REFLECT:
Immaculee's story is truly outstanding. I know what it feels like to want to kill a person, but what really puzzles me is how a human being would actually have the idea and put it in action. Her story has really touched me and I'm sure anybody who reads it would feel the same exact way. Ever since reading this book, I honestly try my best to not take life for granted and thank God for the life I have. And sometimes even just being grateful for being in a country where none of that is common is enough.
This is a picture I scanned from the book of Immaculee with her big brother, Damascene, a few years before the genocide begun.
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