The killers did not come back with the letter I had asked for. “You see that my guests are mainly women and girls," I said. "You just want to rape them." Finally I bribed them with 6,000Fbu and they left my home. The following day, I accompanied my guests back to their homes.

At that time, some of my neighbours felt that I should have let my Tutsi guests be killed as my parents and friends have been killed by Tutsi. I replied that my parents and friends have been killed by killers not by the Tutsi. They died when they were fated to die. “Why did God protect us against the killers who wanted to burn us?" Everyone dies when God wants him to die. I said that God had protected my guests by using my courage, and that no one would harm them.

The day I accompanied my guests, it was very dangerous to move around town. When we got out of the car, Tutsi militiamen detained me. They wanted to kill me but the Tutsi I saved stopped them. “Why do you want to protect him?” asked the killers. My guests insisted that I was their brother. In order to convince the killers to spare me, they phoned someone who was well known and who could save me. He arrived after a few minutes and we greeted each other warmly. This was in 1996, and for those who remember well, there was total insecurity in Bujumbura.

In Bujumbura people, especially Hutu people, were beaten or killed. No one dared to protect them. As for me, I didn’t have any problems to move around town because of the persons I have saved. I went in three or four times a week but no one ever attacked me. Some of the militia members became my friends. They even warned me about whatever was going on. If it was really dangerous they would advise me to leave the town early. Sometimes I heard there had been killings just after I had left the town.

I have been repaid for the good I have done. That’s how I saved my guests. One of them has died, but others are still alive. I do not know where they live for the moment. As the situation has been getting worse and worse, they may have fled. But what I am sure is that they did not die that day.