"My name is Augustine Kamegeri.
How did they know that I hid people? They didn’t know, but they suspected me. Just after people left, the killers would arrive. They would search my house, but before they could reach it, my kids would warn us.
In fact, I had assigned them to keep watch and let us know as soon as they saw a squad walking towards the house. Then I would help people hide in a small forest of “bee trees” that the killers wouldn't dare enter. So the Tutsis would hide in the forest and spend the night among bees.
Towards the end of the conflict, a woman came to my home and asked to be let in. Her name was Odette. When I asked her where she had been since the beginning of the assaults, she said she was hiding in a Hutu neighbor’s house.
She said to me, “After my brother, my mum, and I were wounded by a machete, a woman sheltered us in her house. When we were healed, she asked me to work in her sweet potato field. One day, while I was working, I noticed that my brother was taken to the Kivu Lake to be drowned. I was scared and ran away.”
I asked her, “Why would you run away from a Hutu’s house to another Hutu’s house? I am a Hutu, too.” Still, I let her in.
“Towards the end of the conflict, a woman came to my home and asked to be let in. Her name was Odette. When I asked her where she had been since the beginning of the assaults, she said she was hiding in a Hutu neighbor’s house.”
Then I arranged a boat for them, and my children took them to Idjwi Island, a safe place. They could go at night only--at daytime, it was impossible.
You kill a person--what good does that do for you? Nothing. You don’t eat them, you throw them in the street where they rot.
For me, I see the advantages of saving people. If I have a wedding, they can bring the wine. For you who killed them, are you going to go into the bush where you threw their body and tell them to bring wine for a wedding?
People must have the culture and mind of doing what is good. Loving is beautiful."