Kagabo says in sharp contrast to his father who committed genocide, Kagabo who was 15 years old in 1994, then working as a house-help, saved lives.
Kagabo’s father, Yuri Baritima was a local government leader at the time of the genocide which he perpetuated, found guilty on trial and is serving life in prison.
At the time of the genocide, Kagabo was a caretaker at a house that belonged to a man who rarely came by, spending much of the time at his second home.
In the compound was an excavation which Kagabo used to hide twelve people who were being hunted.
The garbage pit had ample space for all the twelve which he covered on top, taking them meals from there on a daily basis.
Later on, Kagabo took eleven of them to another place and remained with one woman, Donathille Murekatete whom they fled together to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
According to Kagabo, he did all the best to save innocent lives.
“I was very young but had no room for hate as my father was. I had to protect those who were being hunted at the same time being vigilant so that my father who was a leader in local government would not guess that I was protecting people or guess that I did not agree with his mission,” he explains.
Murekatete, one of survivors who were saved by Kagabo thanks him for the outstanding activity.
“Kagabo saved me and my family, he protected us and we were in a place where killers used to cross, but could not guess that we were in,” she says.
Speciose Mukarurangwa, who survived in the region and the president of IBUKA in Gisenyi Sector requested to list Kagabo among pact protectors.
“Based on his activities, I think that he would be listed on the list of pact protectors. It was not such easy because he was a child who would have obeyed his father, but did the contrary and saved people,” she says.
Kagabo is now married to a survivor woman. They live in Gisenyi.
On Sunday, all twelve people who were saved by Kagabo visited and promised him a gift as a pact between them.
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