Lucie Nzayisenga, a pastor in Malawi, shares her personal testimony.

I was born in Rwanda from a churchgoers’ family, but both parents were in different denominations — my father was in one denomination and my mother was in another. As children we were following our mother, but as we grew up we needed to choose ourselves where to belong. My three brothers decided to go with my father and my two sisters and I remained with my mother.

It was difficult to be together as a family and enjoy celebrations or agree together. The reason was firstly, my parents had different views about their religions; secondly, my father was polygamous, though later he came to divorce the first wife and got married to my mother legally.

The year 1994 was a wicked year for every Rwandese. There was a severe hatred among two ethnic groups in our country where many people lost their lives, including my two uncles and other relatives, within a short period of three months. However, though the war was so intense all over the country, my father did not want us to run away since he loved his cattle. One evening, a large group of people came and attacked our home carrying violent arms: machetes and (pangas) and other traditional arms.

For the rest of the story, as well as her husband's escape story, see Engage magazine.