April 5th and 6th of 1994

Dear Diary,

It is April 5th of 1994, and it seems like just yesterday that the Hutu president was killed. On the radio a man had said, "Hutu president of Burundi, Melchior Ndadaye, has been killed." At that moment in time, everything changed. I have been hearing on the radio that the Hutu's are going mad and have some kind of plans for the Tutsi's, which I am, but I don't really understand it that well. I guess we will have to just wait and see what happens.


~Kehinde

Dear Diary,

It is the end of the day on April 6th and I am SO scared- my family had to leave our house! I don't know what will happen to us, but I hope we don't get more hurt than we already are. I am worrying about my little brother who is only ten months old and my parents- especially my mom because she has a bad knee and it is hard for her to walk long distances. I don't' know why, but a Hutu man forced us out on the street and started to beat my dad when a truck came to gather many Tutsi's including my family and I, who were the lucky ones. At that moment, my brother Zike was screaming as loud as he could and my mom was frantically trying to make him stop by singing and bouncing him around in her arms. As we were being loaded into the truck, I was trembling with fear, not knowing exactly where we were going. I think I heard the driver mumble something about stopping in Kayzona which isn't too far I guess. Not too long, after probably about 15 minutes, I looked out the window of the truck and saw a girl a little older than me and her parents all being shot down by Hutu's, right after they were beaten. I hadn't realized how bad it was and that so many people were being tortured, but I ask myself- How many have they gotten to? My parents then covered my eyes as well as Zike's to keep us from witnessing the pain of others. At one point gun shots and the screams of helpless people were so loud, that I almost couldn't stand it and thought I would turn deaf. Many of those episodes happened a lot throughout the ride. We soon reached our destination at the end of the day, basically untouched which was a miracle. I can't help but think what there is to come for my family because I don't want to lose them. Right now we are in Kayzona and have found an old shack on the side of the road to stay in over night. It is starting to get bitter cold and we don't have anything to protect us so we don't freeze. My mom was nice enough to give me her over shirt so I would be a slight bit warmer. My parents are not pleased with this because they think it is too risky that something could happen to us or someone could find us, but I am just happy that we are all still breathing and alive.


~Kehinde