A MAN who saved a baby left for dead during the Rwanda genocide has been presented with a Cumnock cow.

Amiel Mbarubukeye rescued Delphine after he found her lying next to her dead mother as he was burying the bodies of massacred Tutsis near the village of Butembo during the civil war in 1994.

Realising the badly injured infant was still alive, Mr Mbarubukeye, a member of the Hutu ethnic group, wrapped her in his jacket and hid her in bushes, then took her home to his wife.

The couple had a baby of the same age and decided to look after Delphine and raise her until they could trace any surviving relatives.

They put themselves at risk but managed to keep Delphine safe because no-one could tell whether she was a Tutsi or a Hutu, and the family was left alone.

Mr Mbarubukeye has now been presented with a cow - a precious gift in Rwandan culture - by the Goboka Rwanda Trust.

A Church of Scotland minister had donated £250 to buy the animal following a charity event he organised at Laigh Tarbeg dairy farm near Cumnock.

It has been named after Scotland’s national bard as a thank you.

Rev Chris Blackshaw, the Kirk’s minister for the farming community in Ayrshire, named the cow Burns after Scotland’s national poet.

He said: “I am delighted that some of the money we raised at our farm walk and praise event has been used to buy a cow for Mr Mbarubukeye.

“It is a touching and moving story because he was a Hutu and was burying the bodies of minority Tutsis who were persecuted and he decided to save an innocent life instead.

“The presentation of cows to Mr Mbarubukeye and Delphine is an incredible indication of reconciliation following a dark time in that country’s history.”

Mr Mbarubukeye traced Delphine’s father, who was in Congo when around 800,000 people were killed by ethnic Hutu extremists in Rwanda in 100 days between April and July 1994.

Father and daughter were eventually reunited and she is now a married mother-of-two living in Ruzenzi, which is about an hour by road from where she was found and initially raised.

Delphine presented Burns the cow to Mr Mbarubukeye at the opening of a new Reconciliation Centre at Butembo last month, which was attended by around 1,000 people.

The charity also gifted a cow to Delphine.

The pair both gave testimonies about the impact the courageous act had on them and the bond it created between the two families.

Heather Thomas, chief executive of the Goboka Rwanda Trust, said the charity’s mission is to work with Rwandan partners on schemes of reconciliation.

She said: “We know that it is only by forgiveness and moving forward together in unity that the country can face a peaceful future as a united country.

“To gift a cow to someone who risked their life for a neighbour who they have been told to kill is an outward acknowledgement of what it truly means to love your neighbour.”