Page 35 - Archangel

Originally from the province directly across Lake Kivu, Layla returned
home to organize rescue operations from Bukavu “with my eyes open and
my Christ leading the way until he brings me home.”
Operation Moses rescues intensified and increased in scope and
sophistication, as thousands more Tutsis finally realized the genocide
could consume them. Keezie had developed a church information
campaign which warned thousands more unsuspecting refugees not to
gather in camps as Militia Radio instructed. Those who didn’t listen were
stormed by Interanhabwe killers that turned those locations into ‘killing
fields.’ Despite her militia-broadcasted death threats, Layla’s reputation for
bravery grew as did her pleas to Christians around the world for support,
and her corroboration of Hutu militia atrocities for international media.
Marayika and her teammates had witnessed beheadings, severance of
limbs, gang rapes, and torture from armed hunting parties which used
everyone from infants to grandparents for target practice.
Tinyuka and Marayika’s collective courage, commitment and calling
built a Robinhood-like reputation and support among Rwandans,
both Tutsi and moderate Hutus. This notoriety infuriated the militia
butchers who intensified searches to find and kill both Keezie and Layla,
and increased bounties on all Operation Moses leaders. Interanhabwe
militia eventually vectored the operation’s remaining escape routes. The
refugee evacuation and settlement care system unfortunately grew out of
anonymity and into legend.
The die was cast and the Devil’s work done one fateful evening. Upon
return from a successful night crossing of refugees, Layla returned to
heart-breaking news. The beginning of the end started with Keezie being
recognized by a ‘refugee’ she rescued to re-settle in a camp near Bukavu.
That Judas was actually a Hutu Interanhabwe informant living in camp.
Upon returning to her Hutu village in Rwanda, Keezie was attacked
with a machete. As God would have it, three men walking by at that
instant intervened in the initial threat on her life and limited wounds
to superficial lacerations to her calf and upper back before her assassins
were dispatched. Weeks later, Tinyuka’s location was again betrayed by
previously evacuated parents whose child was being held by militia as
blackmail. Threatening to behead the infant if the parents did not give up
her location, Keezie e-mailed ‘I am going home,’ and voluntarily headed to
her assassination.
With no notice and very little time to plan, she fled her hide in plain
view into the bush to divert the attackers, as Operation Moses volunteers

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