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to hide. After all, embassy officials and the police attached to the<br />
mission had already been there several times before and had not<br />
found me. When I got there, to my pleasant surprise, his sisters<br />
embraced me and agreed to hide me. They ensured I was safely<br />
tucked away from the preying eyes of the police.<br />
For the first time in the many months I had been hunted down,<br />
I relaxed. I began to sleep soundly at night, something that had<br />
eluded me since I fell in love with Patrick. Their gesture of<br />
sisterly love was a huge relief for me. It strengthened my<br />
trembling heart and I began to feel like there was hope for me<br />
after all. Patrick’s siblings had not fully come to terms with my<br />
relationship with their brother, but when they saw how<br />
ferociously the Rwandan embassy officials and the police were<br />
looking for me, they felt the need to put our ethnic differences<br />
aside and to protect me, first, as someone they knew their<br />
brother had a soft spot for and secondly, as a human being. I<br />
momentarily felt very safe. Patrick and his siblings did not<br />
mention anything about my whereabouts to their parents again.<br />
They decided to protect me.<br />
From my experience, I learnt that in life, there will always be two<br />
types of people – the good and the bad. Even Adam, the first man<br />
to be created, fathered two sons who were very different; and<br />
that is why Isaac’s offspring formed two nations. There are many<br />
such examples in history and in everyday life. It taught me not<br />
to generalize characters when dealing with people. It is not right<br />
to brand everyone bad, that is related to one bad person; and<br />
neither is it not right to assume that any person related to one<br />
good person is just as good. Every person is unique, and Satan<br />
leads us into temptation differently. Some of us are easily<br />
tempted while others can resist temptation to a 9 certain<br />
degree. While in hiding, I was blessed to have support from my<br />
husband’s family who lived abroad. They accepted me and<br />
protected me from those who were looking for me. They knew<br />
the repercussions of sheltering someone from the other ethnic<br />
group, but they risked their lives for me. Being in close<br />
relationship to one of them was dangerous enough for both of<br />
9
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