Ndayambaye, Patricie
Summary of Oral History
In May of 1972, Patricie Ndayambaye said she moved to Gitega with her husband in hopes of fleeing the violent attacks in her community. Ndayambaye said her husband worked as a school teacher while she stayed home to care for their five children. One afternoon, Ndayamabaye said she became nervous for her husband’s safety after a group of children fled school crying and telling their families soldiers had taken their teachers away. Ndayamabaye said the militia invaded the schools, removing any male Hutu teachers from their classrooms. She explained that the perpetrators took her husband and loaded him onto a truck with his fellow male colleagues, and they killed him. Ndayambaye said they were casting bodies into rivers or mass graves. After her husband was murdered, she said perpetrators invaded her home, stole all its belongings, and left her with zero belongings. She said if her neighbors did not give her milk and food, she is not sure she and her children would have survived.