Niyongabo, Elois
Summary of Oral History
Niyongabo said he was forced to drop out of the fifth grade because that is when the 1972 Genocide of Burundi commenced. He recalled teachers telling him and his fellow classmates that they were taking a day off school and class would resume next week. In reality, Niyongabo said the school was canceled so the community could attend a meeting to prepare for the genocide against the Hutu. A chief commander that the community could not identify as Hutu secretly attended the meeting and warned the locals that there would be killings. Niyongabo lost his father and other relatives during the genocide. He said that his Tutsi neighbors took over their home and were never able to utter a word to the people who stole his father’s life and his family’s home.