Rose: Paul did not budge. He asked one of his friends to hide us. But when the friend saw the killers, he got scared and refused to help. Paul stayed with us and begged them not to kill us. They become very angry and destroyed a pigpen in order to get wood with which to burn us. Paul then stood in front of them and swore that they will have to kill him before they could touch one of us. After they went away, his son led us to another hill, to a friend called Bucumi. Paul's son asked Bucumi to hide all of us in his home.

Paul: The killers came back to my place the next day to look for them but didn't find them.

Rose: The killers found us at Bucumi’s house and ordered him to get us out. Bucumi replied that he intended to keep us locked in his house and to burn us with it. He said he would make sure that we were burned alive. When the killers left, he assured us that he was not going to harm us. He told us to stay in the house with his children. He protected us. Early the next the morning, he woke us up and told us to run to a hiding place. He had us go in small groups, each adult taking a different route. This way, if one group was found and killed, others might survive.

Later the killers returned to Bucumi’s house to ask if he had burned us. "No," he replied. "Soon after you left, they escaped. You know, these Tutsi are very cunning. I didn’t even see which direction they went!" That evening, Paul came to our hiding spot and brought us some food. He assured us that everything was going to be fine. During the night he came back to guard us. He rescued some other people and brought them over to us.

One day some Twa* killers came for us. Paul’s son raised his machete and told them that the first person who even tried to touch one of us will get a taste of his fury. They ran away and we felt really safe. Paul always came to feed us and to assure himself that we were all safe. He was always keeping an eye on us, threatening anyone who even tried to approach. At that time, Paul and his sons were our guardians. They slept outside keeping us safe in the house.

*-The Twa, Burundi's third ethnic group, sometimes also fought alongside the Hutu against the Tutsi.