‘The men were led off to the church’, recalls Rufina, ‘and we women
were all herded into a nearby house. My three children were clinging
to my skirt, and my eight-month-old baby was feeding at my breast.’
Rufina remembers that she stood on a chair to see into the nearby
church, and saw that the soldiers had blindfolded and handcuffed the
men and were standing on top of them, beating them.

‘Then I saw them kill the men — including my husband — one by one.
Some were beheaded, others were machine-gunned.’

Later, the soldiers came for the women, taking the younger ones to be
raped and killed first. Then they came for Rufina.

‘I was led out in a group of 22 women, at the end of the line. The
house they were taking us to was full of dead bodies, blood was
trickling out from under the door. I knelt down and prayed to God to
save me: then I saw my chance. I slipped into the cover of an apple
tree and hid among the leaves.’


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