It was the second week of April 1994, and Félicité Niyitegeka saw the specter of genocide heading in her direction. Niyitegeka served as director of the Centre Saint-Pierre, a Catholic charity center in Gisenyi, a quiet lakeside town in western Rwanda that people often visited to escape their ordinary lives. She had served her community—both Hutu and Tutsi members—for decades, giving food, clothing, and money to those in need. But as Hutu militia bands swept toward Gisenyi with plans to kill the country’s Tutsi minority, Niyitegeka braced herself to serve…
