Diary 8

Interahamwe Soldiers

Things settled down for awhile and I felt safe as long as I was at school. I finally graduated high school and I received a scholarship to the National University in Butare. This has been a life long dream of mine. My family was so excited. We celebrated with a big Rwandan feast. My parents were so proud because I was the first girl in the family to go to university. My parents told me to hold my head high and that I was going to be able to take care of myself. Going to coffee shops, seeing movies on the weekends, and going to dances on campus helped me enjoy college life very much. I was doing very well in school and I had lots of friends. We heard throughout college on the radio about peace talks between the RPF and a new group called the Interahamwe. The Interahamwe started out as a group of homeless kids and they were trained to kill by government army soldiers. My brother Damascene and I came in contact with the Interahamwe for the first time on our way to Kigali for a wedding. They were scary and I hope we don't come across them ever again.