Customer Reviews

La mort ne veut pas de moi: Document (French Edition)

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I started to read this book yesterday because I couldn't find the book I was reading at the time. The book about Yolande Mukagasana kept me indoors most of the day: I just couldn't put the book down, and finished it yesterday. Her story was that powerful. She gives a face to the Rwanda genocide of 1994. Much of her story has parallels to holocaust during World War II.

In 1994, Yolande is running her own clinic. She is married to Joseph and a mother of three. All her life she has been a victim to discrimination because she belongs to the minority tribe: She is a Tutsi, while most of her fellow citizens are Hutu. For a while Yolande has become more and more concerned about the safety of her family. She wants to leave her country, but her husband does not want to leave. He does not want their children to end up in refugee camps. The married couple discuss and argue about what will be the best for their children, and they have not been able to come to a solution when disaster strikes:

One day the President of Rwanda dies in a plane crash, and Yolande and Joseph know that all Tutsis are in serious trouble. They try to contact international and foreign organizations and embassies, but either they don't reply or they say they are sorry. Yolande and Joseph try to escape, but all ways out of their area has been blocked. They try to hide in the forest and in people's houses. Yolande experiences that people she has helped, not only refuse to help them, but also betray them. While other people who she hadn't expected any help from, risk their lives to save her.

Joseph is the first to be killed. Yolande tries to save her children: She tries to hide them, and she contacts a cousin who is of Hutu origin. Her cousin promises to look after them, and she really tries her best. Still, Yolande is not able to save her children. In the end Yolande is the only one left. Her brother had predicted that Yolande would be the only one left. He becomes right as all her sisters and her brother dies as well. Her brother said that she would be back to bring justice for them all.

I searched the web, and I read that Yolande Mukagasana now is a nationalized Belgian citizen and she wants to testify in a planned international court.

I found the book very well written. Yolande Mukagasana's testimony is important. It is important not to forget. Yolande turns her family into real human beings and not just statistics. When whole groups of people are slaughetered, we need stories like Yolandes. These real life stories tell us that each individual whether a man, woman or child is unique and should have been protected. This knowledge is important in the struggle to prevent history to repeat itself.
I recommend this book.