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home from up-country only to find his son in prison. He came<br />
to me and said, “Your brothers and sisters came and took over<br />
everything including houses. You cannot stay in my house when<br />
my son is in prison. Get out!”<br />
I went to see my husband and asked him whether I could leave<br />
the house or resist. He advised that I should stay, because<br />
leaving would only make me look guilty of all their accusations.<br />
They would say I deserted my family, and I connived with the<br />
Tutsi authorities to have Patrick imprisoned. So, I stayed and<br />
endured all their mockery and scorn. The house had one<br />
bedroom, a sitting room, kitchen and bathroom. I was<br />
dumbfounded when I got a letter from my father-in-law stating<br />
that I was now his tenant, and I had to pay him rent for the<br />
house. That would not have been so much of a surprise because<br />
I knew I was not his favorite person. However, he took his dislike<br />
of me a notch higher when he served me another letter,<br />
demanding rent for each room in the house separately. That<br />
meant I would have to pay rent for the living room alone, the<br />
bedroom alone, the kitchen, bathroom and corridor.<br />
I went back to Patrick and showed him the letter. My opinion<br />
was that I would much rather rent a much bigger house with the<br />
same amount of money instead of spending it on a small place,<br />
with so much oppression. It goes without saying that it was not<br />
the rent that my father-in-law wanted. He wanted me out of his<br />
house. When I visited Patrick in prison and told him that, he said,<br />
“No. Do not give my father money and do not leave the house.<br />
Let him chase you in broad daylight when everyone is watching.<br />
Then you can leave.” This incident confirmed several things to<br />
me, that my father-in-law would never really come to terms<br />
with the fact that his son married a Tutsi and secondly, it would<br />
take divine intervention for him to accept me. Once my fatherin-law<br />
realized I was not budging, he put the house up for sale<br />
and I had no option, but to leave. At this point, I reflected upon<br />
my life and came to the conclusion that this pushing and shoving<br />
between Patrick’s family and I had gone on too long. It was time<br />
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