Petronille is 29 years old. During the war she was 15 years old. She is one of eight children. She now lives in Rugendabari with her sister, her children, and two other orphans.

This is her story:

During the war, we slept at our neighbor’s house where many families had gathered. When the soldiers [Interahamwe] came, we ran and hid in the forest and in people’s fields. I did not have an identity card. At night people would come and kill others without asking about identity cards. They were strangers who were directed by neighbors to kill.

They took my father and jailed him for one day. They took him because they said he was a fighter. In the morning, the authorities took all the prisoners outside, and in front of everyone they shot all the prisoners. I did not see my father get shot. I only saw his body with the bodies of all the other men, dead. (Note: Earlier in the year Petronille’s father had won a legal settlement against a neighbor. It is believed that the neighbor accused him of being an RPF fighter as revenge against his legal victory.)

After they killed my father, we walked that night to a family member’s house for safety. It is here that my mother fell ill. We hid for one month. After the food ran out, we were left with a thin porridge for breakfast, and then nothing else for the whole day.

When we returned home, we went to find the domestic animals we had left with a person we knew the Interahamwe would not kill. When we returned, we got our goat and cow from this person, and we began to weave mats to make money. Our fields were still there, but all our crops had been removed to feed the army.

For one year we lived with our neighbors comforting and protecting us because they knew our mother was ill and how our father had been killed. During this time seeds were not available, and we struggled to grow food.

At the end 1995, my mother died. Our standard of living became very bad. My three older sisters had been married, and so I was the oldest person responsible for my other siblings. We had a terrible problem of famine.

Today I am still at home with my older sister, and I am still not yet married. I live with my sisters and two other orphans. I would like to get married in the future, but today I want to help those younger than me so in the future they can help themselves.

Petronille joined Zamuka Cooperative 15 months ago. Because of the cooperative, she does not worry about feeding her siblings. She feels it is such a blessing to have help from the cooperative, and is so thankful for the women who buy her baskets in America.

As of May 2009, Rising has helped Petronille make $468 through her baskets.