USA: Refugee in Abilene who survived genocide earns her GED
June 7, 2009
Photo:
Reporter-News Photo by Ronald W. Erdrich Immaculee Nikuze was a Rwandan refugee, bringing her three surviving children with her to the United States in 2005 through the International Rescue Committee. Nikuze will receive her GED tonight.
Earning a high school equivalency degree years after dropping out of school is a major accomplishment under the best of circumstances.
Immaculee Nikuze's life is hardly one defined by good circumstances. When Immaculee, 52, walks across the stage tonight at Abilene High School to pick up her General Educational Development diploma, it will mark an achievement set against the backdrop of the most incredible odds imaginable.
Before coming to the United States in 2005 through the International Rescue Committee, Immaculee had suffered the loss of her husband and three children in the Rwandan genocide of 1994.
She had foraged for survival in the jungle with her three remaining children for several years, only to eventually be separated from them and then reunited.
After living in various refugee camps following their jungle experience, the family was sent to Abilene just a year after the International Rescue Committee opened a branch office here. The Nikuze family may not have been familiar with their destination at the time, but they knew they would be safe and in a place where a new beginning was possible.
"We were just excited to know we were going to live in a good place," said the oldest daughter, Alice Uwumuremyi, 23.
After four years, she, her siblings and mother wouldn't want to live anywhere else. They have encountered the same West Texas friendliness that the city is known for.
"Abilene is such a great community," Alice said. "Everyone is friendly."
As is customary in their homeland, the family members have different last names. Nikuze's two other surviving children also live here -- Jean Luke Nshimiyimana, 20, and Grace Marie Uwiragiye, 22.
Alice is a sophomore at Abilene Christian University, where she is majoring in sociology with a minor in gerontology. Jean Luke is a freshman at the University of Texas at Arlington with dreams of becoming a doctor, and Grace Marie is a student at Cisco Junior College.
Alice and Grace Marie both work at Abilene State School, and Immaculee is a certified nurse's aide at Hendrick Medical Center.
Four years ago, when the family arrived in Abilene, none spoke English, although they were fluent in French and various African languages. Each has worked full time while taking English as a Second Language classes and then attending regular classes to attain seemingly impossible goals.
All are admirable, but the children defer to their mother when it comes time to hand out accolades.
"We are all proud of her," Alice said.
Add "proud" to the list of words that a former ESL teacher, Bronwyn Bowen, uses to describe Immaculee. Other words include "determined," "dignified," "admirable," and "goal-oriented."
"Immaculee Nikuze is a testament to the ability of the human spirit to prevail under extreme duress," Bowen said.
In 2008, Immaculee was named Student of the Year in the adult education program. And this year, she will add the GED degree to her remarkable resume.
As noteworthy as her accomplishments are since she arrived in Abilene, they pale when held next to her life in Rwanda.
Surviving war
Before 1994, when Hutu extremists waged war on the Tutsis in Rwanda, the Nikuze family lived a good life. Immaculee was the equivalent of a middle school teacher and her husband, Jean, was a university math professor.
They had six bright, well-educated children. When the bloodletting began, the family was caught up in it. Before it was over, 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus would be slaughtered at the hands of rebels.
Thousands of Rwandans like the Nikuze family would flee their homeland, never to return. The Nikuze family first fled across the border to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, sometimes referred to by the name of its capital, Kinshasa, to differentiate it from neighboring Congo.
From 1994 to 1996, the family lived in tents in refugee camps, and Immaculee volunteered as a teacher in the camps The family would later flee to Congo, which is usually referred to by the name of its capital city, Brazzaville.
On the run
The family, along with others, eventually was forced into the jungles because rebels were killing everyone in sight, including babies, Alice recalled.
"You just had to run to save your life," she said.
"Even if you were in bed, you jumped up and ran," her mother added.
They hid in the jungle, which was filled with people trying to escape, Alice said. Everyone lived off what they could forage. Sometimes a fellow refugee would kill a wild pig and all were welcomed to share. Some people died from eating the wrong plant or fruit.
"Anything we could put in our mouth, we ate," Alice said.
In 1997, Immaculee's husband, two sons, and one daughter were murdered by rebels and the remaining family was on the run again. Eventually, they became separated. Immaculee was alone in Brazzaville, and the three children were together in Kinshasa.
"We did not hope to find her," Alice said of Immaculee.
But eventually they did, with help from the Red Cross. It was a tearful, joyful reunion.
"We had some kind of party just to thank God for that," Alice said.
A new life
Safely reunited, the family moved to Cameroon in 2001 and remained there until being taken in by the International Rescue Committee in 2005 and moving to Abilene. They moved first to Cameroon in search of a stable environment where the children could continue their education.
"I was looking for some way the children could go to school," said Immaculee, ever the teacher and protective mother.
Although their life in Abilene is tame compared to what they experienced, the Nikuze family has hardly taken it easy since relocating. They quickly learned enough English that the children became successful students, and Immaculee was able to get a nurse's aide certification after working for eight months in housekeeping at Hendrick.
She hopes someday to resume her education in the United States and return to teaching or possibly become a nurse. But that will have to wait until her children are finished with their education.
For now, the family is living quietly and peacefully together in a home in north Abilene. Jean Luke is home for the summer, but will leave for UT Arlington in the fall in hopes of eventually getting into medical school.
The family hasn't had to go it alone in Abilene. In addition to the support they have received from the International Rescue Committee, they have been befriended by classmates, teachers, work colleagues and typically friendly Abilenians like Joyce and C.K. Bradley.
The Bradleys used to eat at Furr's Cafeteria before it closed. One of their favorite waiters was a young man from Rwanda named Jean Luke Nshimiyimana. They were so impressed with him that they invited him and his family to their church, Caps United Methodist.
He went and told his family about the church. Joyce Bradley was in charge of a ministry at the church that takes a loaf of bread to newcomers. She stopped by Jean Luke's home one day and met the rest of the family.
"It just all started from there," she said. "I was impressed with all of them."
The Bradleys helped move the family from an apartment to the house where they now live. They would stop by to pick them up for dinner.
All of it made an impression on a family who not long ago was scrounging for food and dodging bullets in the jungle. To the Nikuze family, Joyce and C.K. Bradley exemplify what they have discovered on their amazing journey.
"They have just been so great to us," Alice said. "We are just so happy and grateful."
Related Materials:
Article prompts memories of Rwanda struggle
Mbandaka Terminus: The Path of Rwandan Refugees Mass Graves in Congo
Beyond the Myth Ex-FAR/Interahamwe and the Congolese Tragedy
Rwandan Hutu Refugees in DRC: Slaves of the 21st Century
Rwanda: Paul Kagame is implicated in war crimes and crimes against humanity
posted by Mamadou Kouyate @ 8:45 AM
4 Comments:
Thank you very much for the article and congratulations to Immaculee for her academic achievement.
I have two observations that need some clarification to avoid any confusion:
1) In Rwanda : “Before it [the genocide] was over, 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus would be slaughtered at the hands of rebels.”
2) In DRC (Congo-Kinshasa): “The family, along with others, eventually was forced into the jungles because rebels were killing everyone in sight, including babies, Alice recalled.”
Which Rebels are we talking about in these two particular statements?
It certainly is not the infamous Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) because they were founded in 1998 with the specific goal to protect Rwandan refugees in DRC from Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) soldiers.
In the first statement I would rater say “at the hands of the Interahamwe militia” rather than rebels.
In the second statement I will not be shy to say that “because RPF soldiers were killing everyone in sight, including babies”.
Here are some excerpts from the Encyclopaedia Britannica.
“After the genocide, many Hutu forces had fled to neighbouring Zaire (after May 1997, the Democratic Republic of the Congo) and used the country as a base from which to attack Rwanda. Frustrated that Zaire’s government was not taking enough action to stop the attacks, Kagame sent Rwandan troops into the country in late 1996 to battle the Hutu forces. While there, the troops also intervened in the rebellion taking place, supporting Laurent Kabila in his successful quest to depose Zairean president Mobutu Sese Seko. In 1998, after Kabila had been in power for a little more than a year, Kagame shifted support to rebels who sought to oust Kabila. Kagame was one of several African leaders operating military forces in Congo during that country’s civil war—dubbed Africa’s “first world war” for this reason—and he was the subject of much international criticism for Rwanda’s involvement. He supported rebel forces until 2002, when he signed a peace accord and agreed to remove Rwandan troops in exchange for the disarmament and repatriation of Hutu forces in Congo.”
One may then wonder why such a confusion?
My guess is that the confusion came from Alice Uwumuremyi, 23, who was just 8 in 1994 (Rwanda) and 10 in 1996 (DRC) when the destruction of refugee camps and the hunt down of Rwandan refugees by RPF soldiers started. Alice was too young to understand what was going on at that time.
More information about similar stories can be found in the book titled:
Terminus Mbandaka: le chemin des charniers de réfugiés Rwandais au Congo
(Mbandaka Terminus: The Path of Rwandan Refugees Mass Graves in Congo)
by Theophile Ruhorahoza,
Editions Sources du Nil
ISBN: 2-9521712-3-8
Mars 2009
Collection "Mémoires collectives"
Price: 15 euros
About the book:
Terminus Mbandaka: le chemin des charniers de réfugiés Rwandais au Congo
(Mbandaka Terminus: The Path of Rwandan Refugee Mass Graves in Congo)
by Theophile Ruhorahoza,
Editions Sources du Nil
ISBN: 2-9521712-3-8
Mars 2009
Collection "Mémoires collectives"
Price: 15 euros
Upon reading this book, one may wonder whether NGOs and the International Community were complicit in the massacres of Rwandan refugees by RPF soldiers since 1994.
That is the question that arises after reading the poignant story of Theophile Ruhorahoza, a survivor of Rwandan refugee massacres after massacres during his journey on foot from Rwanda to the extreme west of DR Congo at Mbandaka, the last place of the massacres before crossing the boarder into Congo-Brazzaville.
This mass of Rwandan refugees in DR Congo estimated at two million in the beginning was being hunted down by soldiers of the army of General Kagame who wanted to exterminate them in connivance with international humanitarian organizations including the United Nations-High Commissioner for Refugees (UN-HCR).
Instead of providing healthcare and foods, the UN-HCR tries each time to forcibly repatriate survivors.
Even though Madam Emma Bonino, the then European Commissioner for Humanitarian Actions, shed tears at Tingi Tingi and managed to alert the International Community, Madam Sadako Ogata, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, largely beyond her apolitical and neutral role in conflicts, condemned Rwandan refugees in DR-Congo to extermination by labeling these women, children, elderly, and sick men, as "genocidaires."
Upon her visit to Tingi Tingi Rwandan refugee camp in DR Congo, this camp was immediately destroyed by heavy weapons by the army of General Kagame making more several thousands of victims.
After the shelling of this refugee camp some of the refugees were forcibly repatriated to Rwanda while the remaining resumed their endless journey in the equatorial rainforest.
During this odyssey estimated at more than 2,000 kilometers in the rainforest, Rwandan refugees suffered untold violences and massacres organized by the army of General Kagame with the technical support (information technology) of renowned humanitarian organizations and baits constituted by zones of food distribution.
No instruments of mass destruction were spared: Rwandan refugees were tortured, raped, and massacred with firearms or knives, hunger, and diseases due to non-delivery of humanitarian aid yet available.
Thousands of corpses strewed over the roadsides of Mbandaka while other corpses were thrown into mass graves throughout DR Congo from eastern side to western side.
To further conceal evidence of these mass murders, thousands of corpses were burned with gasoline especially in the locality of Wendji Secli, Mbandaka.
This story clearly shows us to what extent may end the human folly.
Dear Mamadou Kouyate,
I would like to advise you that people are not allowed to know aans speak the truth about Rwandan genocides and many killings.
The current rwanda president is too strong and he can kill you directly or indirectly as he fears nothing. He killed many people any way and i dont think he has repented.
Some members of the international community are fighting to hide the truth I think the reason is that they wrote too much lies about rwanda in their books and they dont want to change.
Again as this truth can show the real image of the current ruling party in Rwanda and Kagame and his involment in rwanda genocide.
Can you watcth this presentation from Michigan University as it has some information about rwanda
http://www.fordschool.umich.edu/news/events/?event_id=154
Thanks
Thanks Anonymous for the comment.
It is my duty to denounce Kagame's atrocities and I deem it to be a right thing to do for my people. I have already read the video and posted it on theis blog with other relative materials (http://hungryoftruth.blogspot.com/2010/02/coming-to-new-understanding-of-1994.html).
Please keep spreading the word if you can. Together, we shall overcome.
Sincerely,
Mamadou.
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