To be a Christian is one thing and to live a righteous life is another; however, to have both was rare or nearly impossible in 1994 when the Genocide against the Tutsi unfolded.
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In 1994, a nation went wild. Priests, men, women and all categories of people were out with machetes, clubs, knives and guns hunting for Tutsis to kill. No place was safe for a Tutsi to hide; churches had turned into slaughterhouses. It only took someone luck to survive for the next minute of the whole 100 days of the Genocide against the Tutsi.
In the wild mad country that it was, there were a few souls that opted to do the right thing – save lives. Among those is the celebrated Rwandan heroine, Félicité Niyitegeka.
Then a member of Auxiliaries of the Apostolate, better known as ‘Abakobwa ba Musenyeri’ in the Roman Catholic Church, Niyitegeka could have looked the other way just like many others did.
But she did not.
Auxiliaries of the Apostolate is an order of lay women who choose to live a celibate life in service to the Church and dedicate their lives to spreading the gospel.
Unlike nuns, members of the Auxiliaries of the Apostolate do not live in convents but among communities and can do ordinary jobs.
It’s nearly three decades now since she passed on but Niyitegeka’s legacy will forever live on as a selfless martyr that defied the order to kill and embarked on her self-conviction of saving lives.
With death looming everywhere, a little-known nun Sister Niyitegeka in charge of Centre Saint Pierre in Gisenyi town, Western Province, was busy helping Tutsi escape across Lake Kivu.
Her cause was to later get noticed. The suspicious Interahamwe raided Centre Saint Pierre and searched for Tutsi that had been attending training sessions at the facility.
However, Sister Niyitegeka largely known for her big heart had earlier learned of intentions by the militia to attack the centre. She immediately advised those at risk (Tutsi) to remain for safety.
Many Tutsi ran from nearby villages and hid at the centre from where Niyitegeka helped them escape at night via Lake Kivu into neighbouring (then) Zaire.
She was aware of the risks of standing up to the marauding killers — backed by the government of the time — including death.
According to close friends and those whom she saved, Niyitegeka believed that if she was able to save even a single life, then it was her duty to do so.
When Niyitegeka’s brother, Alphonse Nzungize, at the rank of Colonel in the government military, heard of her actions of helping Tutsi escape, he dispatched escorts to the centre to inform his sister to escape because she was going to be killed.
But Niyitegeka was determined – rejecting her brother’s warning. The unit of soldiers sent to protect her was shocked by the response of the Colonel’s sister.
In response to her brother’s escorts, Niyitegeka said; "Simply go and tell him to never worry about my safety. I cannot leave these people (Tutsi refugees) alone. I’m ready to bear the consequences.”
At the time she was responding to her brother’s escorts, 43 Tutsi were sheltered inside the Centre Saint Pierre.
However, Sister Niyitegeka realised that the soldiers would not return a verbal message back to the Colonel, so she decided to write a small note to her brother.
In his book; ‘Christianity and the African Imagination’ Aylward Shorter – a member of the missionaries of Africa, published Sister Niyitegeka’s letter to her brother.
"Dearest brother,
Thank you for wanting to help me. I would rather die than abandon the forty-three persons for whom I am responsible. Pray for us, that we may come to God. Say ‘goodbye’ to our old mother and our brother. When I come to God, I shall pray for you. Keep well. Thank you for thinking of me. If God saves us, as we hope, we shall see each other tomorrow.
That was Niyitegeka’s last word to a family member. Immediately after her brother’s escorts left the Centre, Interahamwe attacked Niyitegeka and her sheltered people. She was killed along with many of them – only two people survived.
To date, Niyitegeka’s body has not been found among thousands of remains of victims discovered after the infamous ‘Commune rouge’ massacre in Rubavu District.
The late Niyitegeka has been honoured among national heroes. She was categorised under ‘Imena’ Heroes’. She is among several national heroes celebrated every year on February 1.
On every Heroes Day celebration, Rwandans gather to pay tribute and reflect on the values of their national heroes.
Born in 1934, Niyitegeka was the daughter of Simon Sekabwa and Angelina Nyirampabuka.
"She saved my life along with 15 others,” recollected Adria Umurangamirwa, one of those she saved, in a previous interview with The New Times.
Niyitegeka, she recalled, "bribed a soldier with an amount of money I did not get to know so he could let us cross into the Congo; that is how I survived.”
According to Immaculee Tuyisenge, a member of the Auxiliaries of the Apostolate, who attended the retreat at the centre just before the killings began, "When news broke that the President (Juvenal Habyarimana) had died (in a plane crash on April 6, 1994) and killings had broken out, we all decided to stay at the centre praying,” she told The New Times.
She said that they were all scared they would be killed "but Niyitegeka would comfort us urging us to be courageous enough and offer themselves as sacrifices of peace for the betterment of the country.”
"It was around 4p.m on April 21 when the Interahamwe broke into the compound, baying for blood,” she recalled.
Niyitegeka hurried to meet the militia at the gate.
"They immediately started shouting insults at her and demanding that she hands over the ‘Inyenzi’,” she said. ‘Inyenzi is a Kinyarwanda word for ‘cockroaches’, a derogatory term used at the time to describe soldiers of the Rwanda Patriotic Army (that would later liberate the country) and the Tutsi in general, as a way of dehumanising them and setting the stage for genocide).
Niyitegeka, she said, insisted that there were no ‘Inyenzi’ at the premises. On hearing this, Tuyisenge quickly looked for a place to hide. She ended up under a bed. That’s how she survived. The rest, she said, were taken away along with their protector, Niyitegeka. Almost all of them were never seen again – including Niyitegeka.
The girl ‘everyone liked’
Athanasie Nyirabagesera, 86, lived with Niyitegeka for about three decades, both serving as Auxiliaries of the Apostolate in Nyundo Diocese.
Nyirabagesera told The New Times that Niyitegeka was a hero even before the Genocide against the Tutsi.
"We used to call her a heroine as far back as the 1980s,” she said. "She was that type of girl that everyone liked, she was selfless and had a generous heart, especially towards the neediest.”
She added: "Besides her church responsibilities, she was patriotic, she would always encourage us to love the country and all its children as we did for ourselves.”