Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust

Another month passes, and not once do Immaculée or the other women leave the bathroom. The women keep informed of goings-on by the radio in the pastor’s bedroom. The propagandist national radio’s reports make it clear that the situation is dire and getting worse: “The announcers told Hutus everywhere that it was their duty to kill Tutsis on sight, no questions asked” (103).

With anti-Tutsi violence continuing to escalate, Pastor Murinzi becomes increasingly concerned about sheltering Tutsis. The pastor also reveals what his intentions are for the women when the war ends: Since he does not want to risk getting in trouble with the Rwandan government, he does not want anyone to know that it was him that kept the women safe, so he plans to send them “to live on a remote island 50 miles away in the middle of Lake Kivu to become wives of Abashi tribesmen” (106). The Abashi are “a primitive tribe who lived deep in the forest […] Rwandan parents scared unruly children into behaving by threatening to send them to live with the Abashi—it was like being sent to live with the bogeyman” (106). The women are shocked, but they must go along with the pastor’s plan, at least for the time being, because they have no other choice.