Nicholas Rutikanga

I was born in Belgium on December 6, 1987. My mother was working there for Sabena Airlines as an airline hostess. I have no recollection of my father because he died in a car accident soon after my birth. When I was 2 years old, my mother and I returned to Rwanda to live with my maternal grandparents on their farm.

I recall often overhearing my mother and grandparents talking about the discrimination in Rwanda and the fact that we were hated by our Hutu neighbors. Things became more serious when thieves began to frequently invade the farm. They would order my grandfather to give them money and threaten to kill us all if he did not comply with their demands. I saw my mom being gang-raped and couldn’t do anything to save her because when I tried, I was beaten so severely that I still occasionally experience pain in my side.

After a few months, my mother decided to move the three of us to Kigali, where she found a tutor to teach me at home in the evenings. He was a Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) soldier and spy, and often informed me of the domestic political situation. He was also the first teacher to get me interested in mathematics. In my second year of primary school, the president was killed and the genocide officially started. Shortly after the chaos began, a neighbor came to tell us that my tutor and his family had been killed. This friend further informed us that his acquaintances were on an interahamwe hit list and that my mother was alleged to be number four.

We had to flee. We spent some days hiding in the home of a European family my mother worked for, and twice we narrowly escaped being killed by the interahamwe. We were eventually hidden in a truck and transported to Butare, where we stayed in an abandoned house. On the third day at the house, I was spotted by three interahamwe soldiers. I managed to escape them, but I suffered a serious machete wound on my leg. I hid in a cove of trees for the night and the next morning I returned to my mother and brother. We fled through the small forest where I had spent the night and we walked all the way to Gikongoro, where a nurse tended to my leg and drove us on to Cyangugu. There, my mother found a Congolese man she knew who worked for Electrogaz. He had a car and took us across the border by telling the border officials that we were his family.

After only two days, however, we had to move to Burundi to find safety. While in Burundi, my brother and I resumed school and we were given financial support by the UNHCR. When war broke out in Burundi, we returned to Rwanda, where we found that my grandparents and five of my mother’s seven siblings had been murdered. Shortly after we returned, my mother became very ill and she took us to Gisimba orphanage because she could not look after us. I was 12 years old, and in my fourth year of primary school. My brother and I studied hard. Because we performed so well, and because the school knew our story, we were permitted to study for free. I excelled on my primary school examinations and gained admission to a government secondary school. I chose my favorite subjects - mathematics and physics as my principal subjects in secondary school, and I did very well on my exams.

With the support of Orphans of Rwanda, I now study civil engineering and environmental technology at the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (KIST). So far, I have particularly enjoyed my courses in computer programming, drafting, nuclear physics, and mathematics. Other courses, such as electrical engineering and fluid mechanics, help me feel connected to my dream career: aviation. Currently in Rwanda, you must be in the military to have a career in aviation and I am not interested in joining the military. So when I graduate, I hope to work as a construction engineer, perhaps by starting my own business, working on airports and houses here in Rwanda. If given the opportunity, I would also like to pursue a master’s degree abroad

While I enjoy listening to music and dancing, reading is my favorite pastime - especially scientific literature. Outside of class I am involved in a student group that promotes a drug-free lifestyle. I also still spend time with the group of St. Pierre boy scouts that I joined when I lived at Gisimba orphanage. I believe Rwanda is progressing well and I know I will contribute to its development.