{"id":16527,"date":"2022-05-02T14:07:27","date_gmt":"2022-05-02T14:07:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/when-it-rained-we-knew-we-would-make-it-to-another-day-genocide-survivor"},"modified":"2022-05-02T14:18:14","modified_gmt":"2022-05-02T14:18:14","slug":"when-it-rained-we-knew-we-would-make-it-to-another-day-genocide-survivor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/when-it-rained-we-knew-we-would-make-it-to-another-day-genocide-survivor","title":{"rendered":"\u201cWhen it rained, we knew we would make it to another day\u201d- Genocide survivor"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Rwanda. <\/strong><\/span>Jacqueline Akinzaniye who was 20 years old during the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi was being beaten by a 12 year old child in the middle of the street. Even though she was a \u2018big girl\u2019, she couldn\u2019t even say \u201cdon\u2019t\u201d because any wrong move would have led to her being chopped into pieces by machetes (to say the least).<\/p>\n

The night before, a gang of Interahamwe had stormed at her home and gathered her whole family of 20 people in front of their house. They had new machetes and torches that made it seem like it was daytime, so she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of them started by chopping my brother\u2019s foot. When he was about to hit the machete on my head, one of them asked who would carry our bodies to throw them. They then took us to Nyabarongo River, which was around three kilometres from our house,\u201d Akinzaniye said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost people say it is not possible for one to walk with onlyone foot, but it is possible. I saw it with my two eyes. We had left the foot at home,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Initially, the killers\u2019 plan was to chop one by one as they throw them into the river. But one of them suddenly pushed Akinzaniye because he thought they were merely drowning them. She could swim though, and so she did.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t say I was saved by my swimming skills bacause I wasn\u2019t that good; it is God that saved me.<\/p>\n

They immediately got on a boat and came after me with their torches. Their machete almost cut me but I sunk for a while,\u201d Akinzaniye said.<\/p>\n

As she kept swimming, she overheard them say that if they didn\u2019t return, the ones they had left by the shore would run away, so they had to go back.<\/p>\n

Akinzaniye managed to swim her way to the shores, but she met someone who told her that her whole family was killed; everyone! In her mind, she could go back to the river and sink to her death, or just find anyone to kill her.<\/p>\n

She went to knock at a stranger\u2019s door. She narrated everything that had happened and with excitement, the man she was talking to asked: \u201cso they have started openly killing Tutsi people?\u201d But he let her spend the night at his house.<\/p>\n

The following day, he told her to keep hiding in the house and said he had to rush somewhere. When he returned, at around 3:00 pm, he told her Interahamwe had learnt that she was hiding there.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said he didn\u2019t want me to be killed at his house, so he told his 12 year old daughter to walk me to the direction I had told him I wanted to head,\u201d Akinzaniye said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThroughout the journey, this child was beating my legs with a stick. I couldn\u2019t even tell him to stop because if I did, he would have made noise and the Interahamwe would find me and come to kill me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

But a few days later, she learnt that she was meant to walk into a trap on that day. The man had arranged with a gang of Interahamwe that would meet her on her way and kill her.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were only stopped by the rain. It rained heavily that I also had to go to another stranger\u2019s house, and that is how my life was spared on several occasions,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Even at the second house where they agreed to hide her, Akinzaniye would always be sent to hide in bushes around the house every time the Interahamwe said they were going to check.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe rain saved me every time until Inkotanyi came to rescue us. When it rained, we knew we would make it to another day,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Akinzaniye shares the story with countless other Genocide survivors, according to Genocide scholar, No\u00ebl Kambanda, who is also a survivor of the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi.<\/p>\n

Indeed, the Genocide started in April, and that is during the rainy season. Despite the dangers of its heavy floods, rain has a special place in the hearts of Genocide survivors.<\/p>\n

\u201cGenocide perpetrators referred killing to \u2018working\u2019. When it rained, they had to take a break. They even had to go for rest at night. That is when their targets would move from one place to another for hiding or food,\u201d Kambanda said.<\/p>\n

This was echoed by Egide Nkuranga, the president of IBUKA, who added that when it rained, people would get a chance to go to areas where RPA-Inkotanyi was for rescue.<\/p>\n

\u201cRain was extremely important during the Genocide. That is when Tutsi people would get to run to other groups of people heading to Inkotanyi territories. It would protect them from the killers in that moment.<\/p>\n

Some would move during the night, but it was not as safe because some roadblocks would still operate overnight. Some people were killed like that\u201d Nkuranga added.<\/p>\n

From time to time, Genocide survivors have praised April rainbecause some attacks they wouldn\u2019t have survived otherwise. But according to Nkuranga, when it rained so much, some would even go in the rain to honour their memories.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to make them understand that during the Genocide, they didn\u2019t have a choice but to go through it. But today, it is not the case because we are in a peaceful country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Rwanda<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Rwanda. Jacqueline Akinzaniye who was 20 years old during the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi was being beaten by a 12 year old child in the middle of the street. Even though she was a \u2018big girl\u2019, she couldn\u2019t even say \u201cdon\u2019t\u201d because any wrong move would have led to her being chopped into […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":16526,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,761,28],"tags":[760,763,758],"class_list":["post-16527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-files","category-homepage-english","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-rwanda","tag-rwanda"],"yoast_head":"\n\u201cWhen it rained, we knew we would make it to another day\u201d- Genocide survivor - Rwanda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Jacqueline Akinzaniye who was 20 years old during the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi was being beaten by a 12 year old chil ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/when-it-rained-we-knew-we-would-make-it-to-another-day-genocide-survivor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u201cWhen it rained, we knew we would make it to another day\u201d- Genocide survivor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jacqueline Akinzaniye who was 20 years old during the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi was being beaten by a 12 year old chil ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/when-it-rained-we-knew-we-would-make-it-to-another-day-genocide-survivor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rwanda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-05-02T14:07:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-05-02T14:18:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2022\/05\/postQueueImg_10-626fe8078ee6c.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1556\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1037\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/when-it-rained-we-knew-we-would-make-it-to-another-day-genocide-survivor#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/when-it-rained-we-knew-we-would-make-it-to-another-day-genocide-survivor\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"\u201cWhen it rained, we knew we would make it to another day\u201d- Genocide survivor\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-05-02T14:07:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-05-02T14:18:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/when-it-rained-we-knew-we-would-make-it-to-another-day-genocide-survivor\"},\"wordCount\":929,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/when-it-rained-we-knew-we-would-make-it-to-another-day-genocide-survivor#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2022\/05\/postQueueImg_10-626fe8078ee6c.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Rwanda\",\"Rwanda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"files\",\"homepage-english\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/when-it-rained-we-knew-we-would-make-it-to-another-day-genocide-survivor#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/when-it-rained-we-knew-we-would-make-it-to-another-day-genocide-survivor\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/when-it-rained-we-knew-we-would-make-it-to-another-day-genocide-survivor\",\"name\":\"\u201cWhen it rained, we knew we would make it to another day\u201d- Genocide survivor - 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