The Murderous Price Paid For Wanting To Go To School

By Dr. Gary Screaton Page

(This is the second in a series of articles by Dr. Gary Screaton Page that Niagara At Large is posting about some of the immigrants and refugees who have come to Canada to begin a new life after some often unimaginably brutal experiences they have suffered through in their countries of origin. In these posts, based on stories Dr. Page has learned from helping newcomers to the country in his border town of Fort Erie, Ontario, names have either been changed or last names have been omitted to protect individuals and their families and friends from any repercussions in their native lands.)

All Gassilde’s mother wanted for her was what Canadians enjoy as a right for their children. She wanted her daughter to go to school.  Her husband, however, would not allow it!

Dr. Gary Screaton Page

An education would mean a whole new life for Gassilde. No longer would she depend solely on the men in her family. She could live her own life. That is what Father didn’t want! Women in Burundi had few rights.

Nevertheless, Mother had decided! She and Gassilde’s younger sisters would work harder in the field so Father would not miss Gassilde’s labour. He and her brothers spent the day with the other men of the village anyway. Besides, he cared only how much money the harvest fetched.

For three years Mother and sisters laboured to exhaustion in the field. Gassilde, too, worked hard! Only she worked at her studies. Even the boys in the private school that took every spare penny Gassilde’s mother could glean from their meagre income without Father’s knowledge grudgingly admired Gassilde’s passion for learning. The nuns especially saw the potential in this Tutsi girl so eager for knowledge.

“Where is Gassilde?” Father roared angrily one day. “Why is she not working in the field? What is this I hear about her going to school? School is not for girls! It will stop!”

Gassilde’s father was furious. He would make sure she couldn’t go to school anymore! With his two sons he grabbed hold of Gassilde and dragged her kicking and screaming from their hut to the fire outside. Gassilde writhed in pain as the flames licked at the souls of her feet.

“You won’t go to school now, will you? You’re lucky I don’t kill you!” Father raged.

The flames so blistered Gassilde feet that she could not stand. “There will be no walking to school now!” Father growled. “No girl in my house is going to school if I have to kill them!”

Time healed Gassilde’s feet and the burns did not dampen her desire to learn. She was determined to get an education. Time also gave her another chance.

The day came when teenaged Gassilde seized her opportunity. Before sunrise one morning she ran away. Free from her father, Gassilde fled to Congo. There a pastor and his wife took her in. Gassilde seemed safe at last. The Pastor promised her she could go to school and stay in his house while she continued to study. His desire, however, was not to help but to satisfy his desire for Gassilde herself.

One morning, while his wife was away, he grabbed Gassilde. Throwing her onto her bed he forced himself upon her. For many weeks the rapes continued until Gassilde became pregnant. Gassilde had no place to turn. He would not let her go and a Tutsi girl surrounded by Hutus had nowhere to turn. When her child came, Gassilde had even fewer options! Pastor would never admit to what he had done and now she had a child to care for—alone.

Like Gassilde’s father and brothers, the pastor and his wife abused her even more. One or the other would beat her if she did not comply with their wishes. When Gassilde’s daughter was born they denounced her to the congregation as a harlot.

Gassilde knew she might be killed if she stayed. But where could she go? That she had no alternative but to run and hide someplace—anyplace but here—was clear. Even if she risked the animals in the forest she must go. So, Gassilde took her baby and ran.

Discovering her flight, the pastor and several churchmen set out after Gassilde. Into the forest they pursued her. But Gassilde knew the forest and hid herself well.

Unfortunately, one can hide only so long with a baby. The child began to cry, drawing attention toward their hiding place. Gassilde had to flee but could not risk taking the child further into the forest. Hiding her daughter as best she could Gassilde ran hoping to come back and get the baby later. If she stayed Gassilde knew the men would kill them both. If she ran on she might be able to come back for her daughter after dark. Tearfully, Gassilde ran on—alone!

Tragically, the men discovered the child when she cried again. They called out to Gassilde, “Come out! Come out or we’ll kill the child!”

If she did, Gassilde knew they would kill them both anyway! Tears filled her eyes as Gassilde continued to run. She could hear the screams of her baby as the men threw the infant into the vat of boiling palm oil they had prepared for mother and child. Dead, at least her baby was freed from the anguish that lives with Gassilde to this day!

Time never heals some wounds. Hope, however, can spring even from racism and violence. Gassilde eventually married and bore a son, Jean. Despite his parents’ best efforts to protect him from the racism that a child of a Tutsi father and Hutu mother experiences, unfortunately they could not. Jean, too, had to flee Burundi. In 2002 he arrived in Ontario.

Thanks to Mathew House Refugee Center in Fort Erie, Ontario, Jean is safe from the brutality in his former homeland. While working for an insurance company, he is studying business and has already earned a theological degree. With friends, he has started a non-profit organization helping widows who are going through difficult times, fearing they may never make it. Thanks to his parents’ courage, Jean has made it! Through Widows Strength International, perhaps others can, too.  

Dr. Gary Screaton Page is the author of ‘Being the Parent YOU Want to Be: 12 Communication Skills for Effective Parenting’. He is a Chaplain with the Niagara Regional Police Service and he has provided counselling and other assistance to many newcomers to this region of Canada. Gassilde’s story is adapted from the book Gassilde written by her son, Jean d’Or Nkezabhizi. Contact Gary at drgary@cogeco.ca.

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