Bangirinama, Renata

Bangirinama, Renata

Renata Bangirinama

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Interviewee Age

Born in 1940

Interviewee Gender

Female

Interviewee Level of Education in 1972

Renate dropped out in fifth grade in elementary school. In 1972, she had been married and she had already given birth to five children.

Geographical Location(s) during the genocide

Kabumba Village, the commune was Kanyosha, Bujumbura province

Current Geographical Location

Kabumba Village, Kanyosha commune, Bujumbura province

Interview Date

3-2-2022

Interviewer Name

Yollande Niyubahwe

Summary of Oral History

Renate Bangirinama was born in 1940 in Gisovu village, in Kanyosha commune, Bujumbura province. She recounts that during the period of 1972, many people suffered in a way they didn’t know. No gunshots were heard in that war, you could see people being taken away and never coming back. The fugitives stayed away and you could see some repatriates.

Renate dropped out in fifth grade in elementary school. In 1972, she had been married and she had already given birth to five children, unfortunately only two were alive: one daughter, Budura Marie Ntahimpereye and the son, Melchior Ntahontungiye. Her father died before 1972.

The tragedy broke out in Rumonge, her husband was the supervisor of road construction, he was employed by a white man named Murekancuro who was from Rwanda, then they went there. Tragedy began in the meeting, they said that they fell asleep and didn’t wake up. The residents of Rumonge woke up, they wore shields in their heads, and swords. That war was called genocide, it opposed hutus against tutsis.

At that time her husband was at Karonda in Rumonge, they searched him everywhere and he fled to a cassava field in the hole, he ran together with a tiger. They moved there in secret until Tanganyika lake where they took the boat and fled to Tanzania.He fled together with a wife who had twelve children, when the boat began to sink, they threw all things into lake, and that woman threw three of her children into lake. There in exile, they lived badly.

Renata encountered many problems: perpetrators came to look for her husband, and accused her of having hidden him in the house, they attempted to burn the house, but they didn’t; her mother in law accused her that she made her husband to move away, so she was very mistreated, and she stayed in tears. She decided to close the house and went back to her native family, she stayed there with her children. Her husband’s family members went to take her children by force, she let them go but this shocked her too much. The other problems they encountered that same year was a terrible hunger, a starvation; her children couldn’t get school education because she couldn’t support them. the 1972 tragedy took away a lot of people: her two brothers in law who studied at university: Emmanuel and Bernard; her two sisters who were at secondary school in Rushubi; her two cousins were also killed. The 1972 tragedy targeted hutus, mostly the educated ones.

After a certain period, she got information that her husband was still alive from a person who was coming from Tanzania. After two and half her husband repatriated but he was not comfortable. They gave birth to five other children, they employed him again in communal office, he was killed in the 1993 war, they shot him, but none of his children knew where he was buried.

Named Persons

Ntimeninda Bernard: her father, Mbonizanye Catheline: her mother, Margueritte: her sister killed at school in Rushubi, Ngaruko: the good local leader of that period, Ntahinkuriye Balthazar: her husband, Buregeya Benedigito: her father in law, Mariya Garagaza: her mother in law Suavis, Yollande, Bosco, Jeanne: her children they gave birth to when her husband repatriated

Named Places

Kabumba: Village, Gisovu: subvillage, Kanyosha : commune , Bujumbura : province

Length of Oral History

00:39:07

Language(s) of Oral History

Kirundi

Language(s) of Transcripts

Kirundi, English

Translator for Transcripts

Pasteur Niyomwungere

Field Folder Number

19

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT - EDUCATIONAL USE PERMITTED This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. In addition, no permission is required from the rights-holder(s) for educational uses. For other uses, you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

Download Renata Bangirinama - Oral History Transcript and Translation (Kirundi and English) (319 KB)

Bangirinama, Renata

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