The killers did not frighten us, we left our home and we went to protect him. Thank God, we arrived before they accomplished their mission. They tried to fight us, even to kill us but we fought them and we succeeded. They went away and we stayed with the old man. We took care of him during the whole night. If they had come back we were ready to fight them once again. But thank to God, as we defeated them the first time, they did not come back. They did not dare to come back along all the night. The following day, we stayed there the whole day until the soldiers started shooting in Kinama the next day and all the inhabitants fled. I am here with his son, because Marcien is already dead. He continued living until he died of disease and old age. He wasn’t killed by machetes or guns.

Anicet: When I came back my father told me all what happened. He told me that there were people who had come to kill him and that Amélie saved him. Without her, he would have died there.

Amélie: His children are still grateful to what I did for Marcien. When they came back they saw their father alive. They thanked me a great deal. When he passed away I informed them. They came here and we mourned together. As the situation is getting better, his children are planning to come back to Kinama to live with us harmoniously as in the past.

Q: What made you save a Tutsi when you knew that you would be killed too?
Even if the Hutu said that President Ndadaye was killed by the Tutsi, it’s not all the Tutsi who killed him. That is why I protected him. I would not let him be killed because of a crime he didn’t commit. I saved him because he was going to be killed for a crime committed by other people. In addition, he was a person like me. We used to share everything, why shouldn’t I protect him?