Many schools in the country were, prior to the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, run by faith-based institutions, especially the Catholic Church, and this trend has continued even after the Genocide.

Many Catholic-run schools, just like churches, were natural sanctuaries for the Tutsi as they fled from the militia, but most of them were not so lucky, as the clerics they ran to either turned them away, handed them over to the militia, or in the worst scenarios, killed them themselves.

Examples from all the three categories above are many and, ironically, when it gets to find out which cleric stood their ground to protect their flock, one finds they were few.

Despite the medal she got for her courage, humility is Sister Helene Nayituliki’s trademark. She not only stood her ground for her students, but also protected the teachers and many people in her neighbourhood.

"I did what I was supposed to do as a parent to all the students and staff I was entrusted with,” is all Nayituliki could say when pestered for an interview to get her version of the story on what happened during the Genocide.

"I really do not think there is more to tell you,” she adds.

Sr Nayituliki, who is currently the head teacher of Lycee Notre Dames de Citeaux, was at the time of the Genocide heading what is currently known as Rwamagana School of Nursing and Midwifery in Rwamagana District, Eastern Province.

At the time, it was a high school but it also trained nurses.

Jacqueline Rutazana, 39, a former student at the school, was in Senior Four during the Genocide and she was one of the lucky few to have been under the care of Sr Helene, as she is affectionately known.

"During the early 1990s, we were not exactly affected by the political tensions that went on in the country, but it did not go unnoticed that our parents were facing persecution,” Rutazana said.

She said their director had a unique philosophy to make students forget the atmosphere outside and to help them focus on studies.

"She would sing for us and her favourite artiste was Cyprien Rugamba, always inculcating into us the culture of living in harmony irrespective of our backgrounds,” said Rutazana.

On April 7, 1994, Sr Nayituliki informed her students of the death of President Juvénal Habyarimana, and tried to keep them inside the school.

Because of the culture she had cultivated in her students, all of them, whether Hutu or Tutsi, stayed together "and we were as if completely detached from what was unfolding in the outside world.

A week later, however, through the radio, they realised that the killings were going on at an unprecedented scale and it would only be a matter of time before the killers stormed the school.

Nayituliki, who was staying in her convent just outside the campus, decided to relocate to stay with her students.

"She would patrol the convent and the school to check on the security of the Tutsi students and nuns,” said Rutazana.

No giving up

The nuns started to face more and more harassment from the militia and local authorities, as the RPF pressure on the government soldiers was increasing.

This compelled Sr Nayituliki to relocate the people in the compound to another convent in Southern Province, through Bugesera District.

"While we had thought that it was only us the 50 students, we were surprised, when it was time to leave, that our teachers (including current president of Ibuka, Dr Jean Pierre Dusingizemungu) were all with us, plus a big number of neighbours,” Rutazana said.

Sr Nayituliki printed school cards for all the youth among them and gave them uniforms to look like her own students, before she put everyone on trucks.

At Zaza Parish, Interahwame militia at a notorious roadblock threatened to kill everyone when they halted the convoy.

Sr Nayituliki insisted that they were her students and staff fleeing the war zone, and declined the proposal of staying in Zaza for the night because she had seen fresh bodies of Tutsi that had been killed at that very roadblock.

"They had even started taking some of us, and hadn’t Sr Nayituliki begged for us, none would have left alive,” recalls Rutazana, a mother of two.

Interahamwe ended up ordering them back to Rwamagana, but the compound became unsafe because the militiamen had seen the trucks leave.

On April 19, Interahamwe had planned to attack them, but they did not come, and even the following day. They said what they thought was their last prayers.

Left to save

On April 21, a relatively brief fight took place in Rwamagana. The genodical government soldiers fled and RPA fighters started the evacuation exercise.

"Ah! You have nurses among these students. That is good news,” Rutazana heard a military commander telling Sr Nayituliki.

All the 50 students who were trapped inside the school were interning as nurses at the nearby Rwamagana Hospital, and, according to Rutazana, they could conduct a minor surgery.

The RPA soldiers took the students to Gahini Hospital in Kayonza District, where they started receiving injured Tutsi. Then, they divided them into two teams, with one group going to Byumba Hospital.

"For three months, Hutu and Tutsi students were together–treating the wounded Tutsi,” said Rutazana.

In 1995, the students returned to school and resumed their studies.

Rutazana, who hailed from the former Gikomero commune, now part of Gasabo District, lost two of her six siblings and father in the Genocide, but she thanks God, "for having sent us an angel in Sr Nayituliki.”

Adeline Kabeja, Rutazana’s classmate, said: "We were saved by God through Nayituliki. She is a responsible leader and kindhearted because everyone inside had food until the last day.”

Sr Nayituliki was honoured with a medal for her good deed.

In 2012, ten student alumni, including Rutazana, gave her a cow in recognition of her heroic actions during the Genocide.