ルワンダのよき魔女

　魔女の話なのでなにかの作品にかこつけたタイトルにしようと思って出てきたアイディアが「虐殺の国のリアル魔女」。『星降る森のリトル魔女』がもとだが、ちょっとひどい。「西の魔女が死んだ」「西の善き魔女」あたりにしておこう。まあともかく、たまにこういう面白い本物がいるから、この世はなかなか面白い：

BBC Obituary: Rwanda's Zura Karuhimbi, who saved dozens from genocide 22 December 2018

　Zura Karuhimbiはルワンダの魔女。ツチ族。公式記録も93歳くらいという高齢の女性。ルワンダ首都キガリから車で1時間ほどのMusamo村で穏やかに死んだ。

　1994年のジェノサイドに際して

「The little two-room house in Musamo Village quickly became a safe haven for Tutsis, Burundians and even three Europeans during the genocide. Dozens of people reportedly hid under her bed and in a secret space in the roof. Others say she dug a hole in her fields where people hid.」

　で、「わし、おまえらとおまえらの家族に精霊をとりつけるからな」という魔法をかけたのである：

「"Zura's only weapon was to scare the killers that she would unleash spirits on to them and their families," Mr Bucyensenge explained. "She would also anoint herself with a local skin-irritating herb and could touch the killers to try to keep them away."」

「このくすり、どうだ―ひりひりするぞ」、塗り薬をつかったり。「うちのお社にはいったら、神様が怒るぞ」と言ってみたり、ブレスレットを振ってみたり…そうして匿っていたひとたちを守ったのである。はては「うちの客を殺したらそれ、おまえら、自分の墓を掘るってことだからな」と脅しつけてみたり…。

「Life carried on as well as it could. She was a mother in mourning, having lost a son to the violence, and a daughter she later said had been poisoned.

And the legend of the witch of Musamo Village continued, despite her repeated assertions that she was not, and had never been, a witch.」

　そうして50年前の虐殺のときの話も発掘される―

「"I told her to carry her son and not put him down, so the militia would think he looked like a girl when they saw him, because they only killed boys at that time," she told news outlet Vice.
That boy, she said, survived - and went on to become the man who presented her with the medal, President Paul Kagame.」

　…まあ、オチが御伽噺のようなものだが。しかし人命救助の件については疑いないだろう。

「"Her story is a reminder that humanity prevails - even in the most difficult situations."」