Marie Ntakirutimana is one of witnesses. During the Genocide, she was raped multiple times by Interahamwe militiamenâ€"so many times that she lost countâ€"all in a desperate attempt to protect her children from being killed.
Although the rapes left her infected with HIV, her children survived. Her husband, however, and many members of his family were murdered.
Ntakirutimana was born Hutu, but she had married a Tutsi manâ€"a decision she never regretted, affirming that love follows its own path.
Tragically, that love was cut short when her husband was killed by a group that included his own brothers.
When IGIHE visited the 62-year-old woman at her home in the 'Village of Unity' in Cyimana Cell, Tumba Sector, Huye District, she recounted how she offered her body to save her five children from death.
On April 21, 1994, open killings began in Tumba and across other parts of what was then Butare prefecture. At the time, the family lived in Gateme, and tried to flee. Her husband first went to check on his sister nearby, but couldn't return home.
Ntakirutimana sent her two older children to hide at her sister's house in Muyira, Kibirizi Sector, Gisagara District. She stayed behind in Cyarwa, but remained out of contact with her husband.
Four days later, she returned to find their house in Gateme had been destroyed. As the Genocide escalated, the family managed to reach her home village, where she herself was not targeted. Her father began bribing Interahamwe to protect her husband and children, but her brothers refused to cooperate.
'My brothers, Ngamijimana Edouard and Nsabumukiza Alexis, were particularly cruel,' she recalled. 'One of them once took the newborn from my arms, held him up in public and mocked me, saying, 'Look at how a snake looks like.''
As the situation worsened, she decided to hide in sorghum fields with her children. It was during this time that Rutagengwa Emmanuelâ€"then a senior figure at LABOPHAR and someone who had tried to court her when they were youngerâ€"tracked her down. He told her that she could no longer escape him, and that if she let him rape her, he would spare her children.
He was not the only one. Ntakirutimana also recalled being raped by another man named Murwanashyaka, a former schoolmate. He knowingly infected her with HIV. Although she knew of his status, her love and desperation to save her children drove her to endure the abuse.
Fighting through emotion, she said, 'I didn't want this. Murwanashyaka came and raped me. Rutagengwa too. They both promised not to kill my children. That's why I let it happenâ€"I wanted to protect them.'
What pained her most was that some of the men raped her near the very place where her husband was hiding, humiliating him and breaking his heart in his final days.
Ntakirutimana never got tested until much later, but always suspected she had contracted HIV. Her fears were confirmed during testing, and she has been living with HIV for 31 years.
She later learned that Murwanashyaka died of AIDS, along with his wife. 'He raped me many times. I can't even count.'
Ntakirutimana continued to hide her children until the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) arrived in Butare. Unfortunately, by the time they got there, her husband had already been killed just one day prior by a large militia group that included his own brothers.
Despite the trauma she endured, Ntakirutimana finds pride in having saved her five children. She says seeing them alive today gives her peace and purpose.
'I'm proud of my children. They all went to school and graduated. I told them they survived because I gave up my body. Even though I live with HIV, I'm grateful to still see them standing.'
Ntakirutimana later testified against all those who harmed her, including the rapists and the brothers who killed her husband.
She also thanked the Government of Rwanda for its health initiatives, especially supporting those living with HIV, which have helped her survive.
IGIHE
