A Time of Terror

A Time of Terror – The Rwandese Genocide A screeching sound woke me from my sleep, I looked around in fear and trepidation Sensing a lurking gaze in the shadows, beyond the room I slept in Sweat began to slide down my brow,That night, the night I lost everything I have ever held dear to me Years have passed, seasons have come and seasons have gone But that night will never be erased from my neurotic mind, I look around in fear, that something like that will soon happen again, As I remember, I wished I had never been born a Tutsi But when I saw what had happened to my Hutu friend Alasious, I then wished I had never been born in Rwanda. The night it happened, Daddy gathered us together and led us covertly into our car, our only means of escape Suddenly our car jerked forward and stopped, my eyes widened as I realized what was happening The Interahamwe leader stood by Dad’s window, his hand stretched out, seeming to ask for something, an Identification When suddenly the man opened Dad’s door and called my Father out, mum trembled, my little sister sniffed and our baby snored. For the first time in my life, I saw my Dad in tears, begging the soldiers to let his family go My Mother couldn’t have any of it, she warned us to stay put and went outside The soldier’s interest wavered from my Dad to my Mother, his eyes darkened with evil He pulled my Mother towards him and used his panga to cut the front of her dress Right there in front of her Family, Mother was raped and later her head was chopped off Like a confined goat, my Father couldn’t protest, because his legs had turned to stumps And his hands were no more, the soldiers hadn’t noticed our existence yet. The night came and we trekked through the swamps, seeking for refuge which we found at a Polish church, where a lot of Tutsi children were hid, the people were many,that same day, the Hutu soldiers came in, Armed with machetes,started hacking to death all the helpless children They called us cockroaches and rats, they had no mercy but we could see the satisfaction they got. After their murderous barbaric act, we waited, waited for what, we didn’t know, I looked at my sister, her look was blank and lacked any emotion, and her little mind had taken in a lot I looked in space and prayed with hope that there was a bright future for this little mind and heart. Because the memory of that night, will forever be seared on the minds of the victims that had survived the years of The Rwandese Genocide.