Zura Karuhimbi
Zura Karuhimbi | |
---|---|
Born | c. 1925 Rwanda-Burundi[1] |
Died | 17 December 2018 (approximately aged 93) Musamo, Ruhango District, Rwanda |
Nationality | Rwandan |
Occupation | Traditional healer |
Known for | Safeguarding more than 100 refugees during the Rwandan genocide |
Zura Karuhimbi (c. 1925 – 17 December 2018) was a Rwandan woman who saved more than 100 people from being killed by Hutu militias during the 1994
Early life
Karuhimbi's birth date is not known – some sources state circa 1909 but she is thought to have been born around 1925 which was the date stated on her state identity card.[2][3] Her family were traditional healers in the village of Musamo in Ruhango District, around an hour's drive from the nation's capital of Kigali.[2][3] Karuhimbi also became a healer and gained a reputation for having magical powers.[2][3] During the Rwandan Revolution she witnessed violence between the ruling minority Tutsis and the more numerous Hutu tribe. She later claimed that in 1959 she had saved the life of a two-year-old Tutsi boy by tying beads from her necklace into his hair so that he could pass as a girl and escape execution by the Hutus. Karuhimbi claimed that the boy grew up to become Rwandan president Paul Kagame.[2]
1994 genocide
At the time of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, a resurgence of tribal violence that killed more than 800,000 people, Karuhimbi was an elderly widow.[4] She helped Tutsis as well as Burundians and three Europeans to hide from roving Hutu militias. Karuhimbi hid the refugees inside her two-room house, and possibly in a hole in her fields. In all she saved more than 100 people, including babies that she rescued from the arms of their dead mothers.[2]
To deter the Hutu militias Karuhimbi cultivated a reputation for being possessed by evil spirits.[4] To maintain her appearances as a "witch" she painted herself and her house with natural herbs that, when touched, acted as an irritant.[2][5] Karuhimbi claimed her house was inhabited by ghosts and threatened that those who tried to enter would unleash evil spirits and the wrath of God upon themselves.[2][5] She emphasised her warnings by jangling her bracelet-laden arms and threatening that if any refugees were killed inside her house then the murderers would be "digging their own graves".[2] The militia attempted to bribe Karuhimbi to allow them access to her home but she refused.[5] All those that sheltered with Karuhimbi survived the genocide.[2]
Later life
After the genocide, Karuhimbi stated that she was a Christian and that her witchcraft activities were only a means of deterring attack. In 2006 she was awarded Rwanda's
References
- ^ "Zura Karuhimbi".
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "The 'witch' who protected a village from genocide". BBC News. 22 December 2018. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
- ^ a b c Ngabonziza, Dan (18 December 2018). "Tribute to 109-Year-Old Zura Karuhimbi Who Breathed Her Last on Monday". KT Press. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
- ^ a b Kamwi, Ruth Kanyanga (18 December 2018). "Rwanda: Umushyikirano! National Dialogue Delights Rwandan Women". Swenga. Johannesburg. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
- ^ a b c Ngabonziza, Dan (15 April 2015). "Meet karuhimbi, Whose Prank Saved 100 Tutsi". KT Press. Retrieved 3 January 2019.