“I would rather die,” she wrote in a letter to her brother, “than abandon the 43 people I am responsible for”.
Felicite Niyitegeka was caught up in the 1994 Rwandan genocide that took the lives of nearly one million Tutsis.[1] Men, women and children, including entire families were massacred at the hands of Hutu marauders. Felicite gave her life to help many Tutsis escape to safety before being captured and executed with them.
Felicite was born in 1934 to a Hutu family. Always friendly and willing to help others, her parents nicknamed her “ikimanuka”, meaning honest and friendly. Rather than marry, Felicite decided to devote her life to serve others. She joined a lay order called the Auxiliaries of the Apostolate that included both Hutus and Tutsis. She received a teaching certificate and began working at the Centre Saint-Pierre in Gisenyi, a holiday resort for the citizens of Kigali.
The massacre of Tutsis by Hutus began in April 1994 when the Rwandan president’s plane was shot down over the capital city of Kigali. The assassination of the Hutu president sparked months of massacres of Tutsi tribe members throughout the country. Not even small, rural communities were spared from the house-by-house slaughter of men, women and children.
The genocide reached to Gisenyi, a quiet town overlooking Lake Kivu. When the mass killings began Felicite was working at the Centre Saint-Pierre, a Catholic retreat center. For many years the Hutus and Tutsis at this center had gotten along peacefully. Suddenly the hatred that was seething below the surface erupted and Hutus began taking out their vengeance on the Tutsis.
Gisenyi was very close to the border of Zaire (now called Democratic Republic of Congo). When Felicite realized that the Tutsis who tried to go home would be killed, she arranged to help them escape into Zaire. When other Tutsis learned that there was some safety at the center they began to go there. Felicite began arranging their escape. She had contacts in Zaire who agreed to help. She also knew many of the Hutu soldiers patrolling the border and was able to bribe them to look the other way.
In her first attempt to smuggle Tutsis over the border, Felicite gathered 10 – 15 refugees in the chapel in the middle of the night on April 19. They left from a back exit and made their way anxiously through thick bushes keeping an eye out for lurkers. They made it to the Hôtel des Grands Lacs in Muzizi, Zaire. Many other Tutsis were escaping and refugee camps like this one were set up in Zaire.
Felicite was very happy with her success and quickly began to organize other expeditions. While gathering the refugees she noticed a militia squad arriving with guns, grenades, and machetes. They were trying to get into the courtyard. They were demanding that the “cockroaches” (Tutsis) be turning over to them. Felicite refused to cooperate. She told the Hutus that the Tutsis were their brothers and sisters. The militia ordered the Tutsis to be put on buses.
Her brother asked her to step aside, but Felicite did not want to abandon her friends. The buses were taken to the Commune Rouge, a cemetery which had been turned into an extermination camp. Everyone was ordered out of the buses and shot. Why would she go with her friends to certain death?
Later a genocide survivor named Eric Murangwa, told a news reporter that Félicité had such incredible strength that she was able to say: “The best I can offer these people is actually to be with them, whatever is going on”. Felicite reminded them that they had a better home awaiting them.
Many Tutsis were encouraged in their faith especially those who died with Felicite.
Thankfully, there are several YouTube videos of her life and sacrifice available. This first one is approximately 12 minutes long and tells the story of her life, beliefs, and many of her wise sayings.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QGbRVKdmJs
The second video is a very moving testimony from women who knew her. It contains photos of the center where the Tutsis were seized and taken away to me killed.
HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=TFJI4YGXATM
[1] 1`This was the same massacre that Immaculée Ilibagiza survived. You can read her story on the website here: https://authormarywalker.com/immaculee-ilibagiza-forgiveness-brings-peace/
