Aimée Marie Kaberuka Niwemfura was five years old in 1994 when the Genocide against the Tutsi occurred; she miraculously survived the brutal massacre that took place at Ecole Technique Officielle (ETO) Kicukiro and Nyanza, where over 10,000 refugees had sought refuge. Niwemfura survived with her father, and she is now a wife and a mother to a son who resembles her late mother. After surviving, she believed that though they killed her three siblings and mother among other family members, they left the her as a seed that would eventually germinate. In 1994, Niwemfura, a daughter of Aimable Kaberuka and the late Esperance Muteteli lived in Kicukiro with her three siblings, she was the firstborn and the last born was only 11 days during the Genocide. Their home was overlooking the airport and on the night of April 6, 1994 she heard an echo sounding coming from the opposite hill where the airport was but never knew what it was until her dad rushed out to check what had happened and immediately called their mother into the room. Shortly after, they moved mattress in the living room to sleep there that night. suddenly, they started hearing vehicles moving around their house at night which was unusual. As a curious kid, she asked her mother why they are going to sleep in the living room and her mother replied: “The family is going to play games” but she remember that her father kept on looking in the windows the whole night wearing a worried face. She realized that something was unusual but she didn’t figure out what it was, she was just a kid. A few days later, around 11 a.m her mom told their househelp to fold the kids’ clothes and that the family decided to move and look for refuge but until then she didn’t know what was happening. She remembers meeting many people on the road heading to ETO Kicukiro, on their way going she also remembers one of the guys who was with them told her father that their house was bombed shortly after they left. Niwemfura and the family finally arrived at ETO Kicukiro and found many people there including white people but one day they just left. “I knew something was wrong when my father approached us saying ‘C’est terrible’(it’s terrible).” Later on, in the afternoon, around 2 pm, Interahamwe who used to hang on the school entered “like hungry dogs let out,” Niwemfura recalls the ugly scenes witnessed at a young age and she remembers her parents saying that “it is over”. Up at the entrance, they started killing people by hacking them with machetes, she saw people being killed, and after they had thrown them out, walked those who were still alive to Sonatube roundabout and then heading to Kicukiro Nyanza where most of them were killed. “Those who were weak, they killed them on the way; as a child I thought they were beating them,” she narrated Her dad was holding her but went back to look for her mother who was on the back of the group because she was weak as a new mother yet Interahamwe were beating her up. “My mother pushed me back to my dad and that was the last time I heard from her,” she recalls. Upon, arrival at Nyanza, Kicukiro, interahamwe told the Hutu who were among them to leave arguing that there was a misunderstanding she asked her dad who they are “but Dad didn’t respond then Interahamwe went on to ask about who was imprisoned because of being spies (Ibyitso).” Immediately, said that they are going to kill them the first time she heard that word but didn’t know the meaning. That’s when she got shot in her leg, arm, and back during that shooting and bombing she saw people crashing into pieces, and until today the order of that scenario is still fresh “I still remember that”. Following that she started hiding in the bodies a few moments later she remembered Interahamwe saying the weapons were over and agreed on killing people with traditional weapons saying that the rest were few. She was hurt and cold, lying down in people’s blood. Interahamwe came back the next day and started killing people again, one person told them to leave the kids arguing that they will be killed by famine, and she saw what was happening and got to see her father in the dead bodies. During that period they started searching for those who are not dead, her little sister was called Mercie her body was next to her but as a kid, she thought that she was asleep. Until that time, she didn’t know the meaning of killing or death and heard it for the second time. She remembered seeing someone steal money from her dad’s pocket thinking that he was dead as well. However, the dad was wounded but alive, and she also saw her mother’s body and her baby brother crying all day. Niwemfura also recalls It was also during the rainy season and they drank mud ponds among other horrible things she testified at that early age. Later on, she saw two soldiers and thought they came to kill them, but it was Inkotanyi who rescued them. They were taken to Rebero for a few days and later to CND, where they got treatment, and her dad was hospitalised due to being strongly injured. After the devastating event, she and her father were among the few family members who survived. However, their journey to rebuild their lives was not easy. Both physically and emotionally wounded, they struggled to heal from the trauma. Despite the challenges they faced, they persevered.
