ALPHONSE: The first evening, coming home from the massacre in the church, our welcome was very well put together by the organizers. We all met up again back on the soccer field. Guns were shooting into the air, whistles and suchlike musical instruments were sounding.
The children pushed into the center all the cows rounded up during the day. Burgomaster Bernard offered the forty fattest ones to the interahamwe, to thank them, and the other cows to the people, to encourage them. We spent the evening slaughtering the cattle, singing, and chatting about the new days on the way. It was the most terrific celebration.
JEAN-BAPTISTE: Evenings the gang would get together in a cabaret, in Nyarunazi or Kibungo, it depended. We might also go from one to the other. We ordered cases of Primus, we drank, and we fooled around to rest up from our day.
Some spent sleepless nights emptying bottles and became even wilder. Others went on home to rest after having an ordinary relaxing evening. Rowdies kept on slaughtering cows after the killings because they couldn’t put down their machetes. So it wasn’t possible to herd the cows for the future, and they had to be eaten on the spot.
Me, I went through those festivities with a pretend smile and a worried ear. I had posted a young watcher to make rounds
about my house, but I stayed on the alert. The safety of my Tutsi wife tormented me, especially during the drinking sessions.
FULGENCE: In the cabaret, we made comparisons and had contests. Many upped their numbers to increase their shares. Others lowered their numbers because it bothered them to recount the blood spilled and to boast about it. People cheated both ways and made fun of those who exaggerated too obviously. There is one, however, well known today in prison, who bragged of more than thirty victims in one big day, without anyone accusing him of lying.
PANCRACE: The evening atmosphere was festive, but some came spoiling for a fight, their fists clenched or machetes still dirty in their hands, because of badly distributed land. For fields, negotiations got very serious. Since many drank Primus without counting, it could get chancy.
At night the bosses were gone and their authority with them; conditions in town were no longer controlled, as they were in the marshes during the day. It was heated and disreputable. So the women would come looking for their husbands and take them home if they heard they were in bad company.
ADALBERT: Vagabond children, children from the streets of Nyamata, more or less abandoned by misfortune, took part in the marshes. Little good-for-nothings, so to speak. But the educated children of the farmers—they could not go. They contented themselves with the looting activities and the merrymaking on the hills.
ALPHONSE: During the killings, we had not one wedding, not one baptism, not one soccer match, not one religious service like
Easter. We did not find that kind of celebration interesting anymore. We did not care spit for that Sunday silliness. We were dead tired from work, we were getting greedy, we celebrated whenever we felt like it, we drank as much as we wanted. Some turned into drunks.
Anyone who felt sad about someone he had killed really had to hide his words and his regrets, for fear of being seen as an accomplice and being treated roughly. Sometimes drinkers went mean when they had found no one to kill that day; others went mean because they had killed too much. You had to show them a smiling face, or watch out.
CLÉMENTINE: “In the evening, families listened to music, folk dances, Rwandan or Burundian music. Thanks to the many stolen audiocassettes, families in every house could enjoy music. They all felt equally richer, without jealousy or backbiting, and they congratulated themselves. The men sang, everyone drank, the women changed dresses three times in an evening. It was noisier than weddings, it was drunken reveling every day.”
ÉLIE: We no longer worried about wasting batteries, we turned on all the radios at once. The blast of music never stopped. We listened to dance music and traditional Rwandan songs, we listened to soap operas. We did not listen to the speeches and news anymore.
Basically, we didn’t give a hoot what they were scheming up in Kigali. We paid no more attention to events in the country, as long as we knew the killing was continuing everywhere without a snag. Poor people seemed at ease, the rich seemed cheerful, the future promised us good times. We were satisfied with our private celebrations, with eating well, drinking well, and having lots of fun.
Besides, a youth could hide a girl he had brought back from the marshes, to have her behind a pen or a clump of bushes. But when he had had enough or when tongues started wagging, he had to kill her, to avoid a serious penalty.
CLÉMENTINE: “I knew the gang well. Those boys were known in Kibungo for bad behavior when they had had a lot to drink. Before the killings, they used to harass Tutsis. They would lay ambushes to throw taunts and punches at them. Some in the gang spoke extreme words against the Tutsis, calling them cockroaches and threatening them with an evil end. The older ones especially did that, and it made the young ones laugh.
“So during the killings, that gang muscled up to the front line in the marshes. They went off together with great strides, they helped one another during the day, they came back staggering beneath loads of spoils. Evenings they spun out all their boasting to demoralize those who hadn’t had as good a hunt. They never tired of killing, mocking, drinking, laughing, celebrating. They displayed constant merriment.”
LÉOPORD: In the evening, we told about Tutsis who had been obstinate, those who had gotten themselves caught, those who had gotten away. Some of us had contests. Others made predictions or bets to win an extra Primus. The bragging amused us—even if you lost, you put on a smile.
We had sessions with girls who were raped in the bush. Nobody dared protest that. Even those who were edgy about it, because they had received blessings in church for example, told themselves it would change nothing since the girl was marked for death anyway.
Me, I had no taste for such messing around; I didn’t like the drink so much, either. I would take a little for solidarity, then go
home to bed early, around eight o’clock, to be in shape the next day. Since I was a cell leader, I had to feel always ready.
ADALBERT: There were two kinds of rapists. Some took the girls and used them as wives until the end, even on the flight to Congo; they took advantage of the situation to sleep with prettified Tutsis and in exchange showed them a little bit of consideration. Others caught them just to fool around with, for having sex and drinking; they raped for a little while and then handed them over to be killed right afterward. There were no orders from the authorities. The two kinds were free to do as they pleased.
Of course a great number didn’t do that, had no taste for it or respect for such misbehaving. Most said it was not proper, to mix together fooling around and killing.
FULGENCE: In the evening, the atmosphere was very lively. But at night it turned different as soon as I got home. My wife appeared fearful with me. She no longer felt safe, she simply didn’t want to do it anymore. She turned away from me. Waking and sleeping separated us—we no longer hoped in the same way. A number of colleagues went looking for sex in the woods just because of a change of climate in their beds.
ÉLIE: We went home full, we had drunk well. That time offered us carefree evenings of enjoyment. It mixed up Good and Evil for us. It showed us a welcoming smile. With my wife, things went normally. She knew that after such a day I could not do without it.