A Woman Who’s Supposed to Be Dead Appeared at Her Own Funeral, Alive and Kicking

With eight adorable children, a loving husband, and a stable job, one woman from Burundi, Africa, can say that she is living the life she has always dreamed of. Though she had experienced a lot of problems and troubles in the past, those days were gone. Noella left Burundi, her native country, and flew all the way to Australia, finding a new home and a new life. Her future was sparkling bright; she planned to spend the rest of her days with her husband strolling on Australia’s pristine beaches once her kids grew up. Gone are the days where she needed to scrape and beg for food; her husband was a good provider, and her children were all loving and supportive. However, when she returned to her native land for a very important reason, she had no idea that everything in her life was about to change.

In 2004, Noella Rukundo left her native home in Burundi to search for a brighter future in Australia. Her first husband had died and left her with five children. With big dreams for her kids, the widow mustered all of her courage and decided to try her luck in a foreign land. It seemed that Noella did the right thing. Soon enough, she found a new job and a nice place to settle with the help of a resettlement agency. The Australians were friendly, and she was offered all the help she could get; her kids didn’t have trouble adjusting to their new home. Noella was always thankful for the blessings in her life, especially when a big one came again.

Still depending on the social worker who helped her and her family build a new life in Australia, Noella often visited the agency. It was there where she met Balanga Kalala, a recent refugee from Congo. Since Kalala already knew how to speak English, he was often asked by the social worker to translate for Noella, who at that time only knew Swahili. During those encounters, the two fell in love. Noella was a widow with five kids, and Kalala was a widower. She soon learned that he had fled to Australia after a rebel army attacked and ransacked their small village in Congo. In that unfortunate incident, his wife and young son were killed. With no reason left to stay, he decided to start a new life in a foreign land as well.

Noella had no plans of getting married again; she wanted to dedicate her life to raising her children. However, when she met Kalala, everything had changed. He was sweet and caring, and he always made her laugh. Moreover, he completely accepted her situation. In a short period of time, Noella fell head over heels for Kalala, and the two decided to live together. They moved into the Melbourne suburb of King’s Park, and Kalala treated the children as his own. In the years that followed, she bore him three more children.

However, she also discovered more of her second husband’s personality. Noella had nothing to say regarding his ability to provide for the family; since he came as a refugee to Australia in 2004, he worked hard and found steady employment. Soon enough, he worked in a seafood processing factory before finding a better job as a forklift operator in a warehouse. However, while living together under one roof, Noella discovered the violent side of her husband. When he was tired, he would often shout and get mad at small things. There were times when he would physically hurt her, but after the rage, he would come to her like a tamed sheep and cry for forgiveness. As a wife and a mother, she would often disregard the incidents and instead learn to accept the situation. After all, he was her husband, and she loved him.

Back in Burundi, Noella was raised by her stepmother. Although she was thousands of miles from home, she made it a point to send her regards to her relatives in Africa. Thanks to technology, she was always updated on what was happening back there. However, one day, the news that arrived from home was not good: her stepmother had sadly succumbed to an illness. Of course, she needed to go home to Burundi to pay her last respects. Unfortunately, her husband couldn’t accompany her due to work responsibilities.

From Melbourne, Australia, Noella traveled 7,500 miles to reach Burundi. She needed to get some things done and, of course, attend the funeral—the last time she would see the amazing woman who raised her. Her husband, Kalala, kept checking on her through phone calls. Since her home in Burundi was small, Noella decided to check into Hotel Bujumbura. She was feeling stressed, sad, and exhausted, and she missed her husband and children as well.

After the funeral service, she went back to her hotel room to get some rest. Just in time, her phone rang; the call was from her husband. She answered it right away and instantly detected a tone of concern in Kalala’s voice. She was feeling so lonely, and his call was just what she needed. According to her husband, he had been trying to reach her all day. He asked how she was doing, and she replied that she was going to go to bed to get some rest from the hard day she had. Instead of saying good night, Kalala advised her to take a breath of fresh air outside. Noella felt that he was so worried about her, so she decided to follow his suggestion. She had no idea that it was the beginning of something she never thought could happen to her.

Noella was only a few steps out of the hotel compound when she noticed a man approaching her. With very little time to react, she suddenly realized a gun was pointed right at her. The stranger told her something that kept her from screaming:

“Don’t scream. If you start screaming, I will shoot you. They’re going to catch me, but you—you will already be dead.”

Although she felt her heart would burst with fear, she decided it would be wiser to do what she was told. The assaulter motioned Noella toward a car parked on the side of the road. There were three guys: one was the driver, and the other two were holding guns. Trying to appear as calm as she could be, she was forced to sit between two men before the car sped off. She was blindfolded, and according to her estimation, the car drove for about 40 minutes. No one spoke during the journey. When the car finally stopped, she was shoved outside and pushed inside an empty building.

Noella was then tied to a chair. Still holding her tongue, she heard one of the kidnappers make a call to alert the boss. Then they turned to her and asked absurd questions. The inquiries were direct:

“What did you do to this man? Why has this man asked us to kill you?”

To Noella, nothing made sense. She asked which man, as she couldn’t remember anyone with whom she had trouble. As far as she knew, she didn’t have any problems with anybody. However, when the man answered her question, it felt like he dropped a bomb. The kidnapper’s answer was firm:

“Your husband.”

Without a doubt, she screamed. It was impossible; Kalala would never do that. She even accused them of lying, and for that, she was slapped. The leader of the group told her how stupid she was. To further prove his point, he called the man who had paid them to kill her.

Noella’s mind was spinning; all along, she could only wish it wasn’t real, that it wasn’t happening. When the call was connected, the leader of the kidnappers triumphantly announced that they already held Noella captive. The phone was put on a loudspeaker so that she could hear the man on the other line. Then, the truth stabbed her like a knife. Kalala’s voice—the exact same voice that had consoled her an hour earlier—sounded like hell to her ears. The man to whom she had given 11 years of her life, the very same man who was the father of her children—she never thought he would be able to condemn her to her death.

When the kidnappers discussed how they would kill her and dispose of her body, the reality of it already tasted like death. She passed out as the leader of the kidnappers ended the call.

When Noella came around, she knew that her situation was hopeless and nothing could save her anymore. As she prepared her mind to accept her unfortunate fate, she noticed the kidnappers looking at her intently:

“We’re not going to kill you. We don’t kill women and children.”

Upon hearing this, a little surge of hope rose. The switch was mind-boggling; she didn’t even know how to react. Then the leader asked her why she hadn’t noticed in the past that something was wrong. It was January, and the order to kill her had been planned back in November of the previous year. Noella tried to remember what she had done to her loving husband. Try as she might, she couldn’t remember anything, nor had she ever sensed it would go as far as this. Noella’s life might still be in danger, but she couldn’t believe there was hope after all. The hired assassins Kalala paid were men of principle; they did not believe in killing women and children. In that moment, she realized that God indeed loved her after all.

Noella spent the next two days in the abandoned building. During this time, the kidnappers told her husband that she was already dead, and they took the opportunity to extort more money from Kalala. Her husband willingly shipped the money.

Meanwhile, back at the hotel where she had stayed, Noella’s brother was fearful of her disappearance. She had never told him when she was going to fly back home to Melbourne, and her belongings were still in the room. Suspecting that something bad had happened to her, her brother reached out to Kalala. According to her brother, he asked Kalala for $545 to pay the police to open an investigation. The husband instantly wired the money and even expressed how bothered he was, though his performance was far from over.

After two days of being held captive, the assassins finally told her what she was praying to hear. However, the gang leader had a piece of advice and a warning for her:

“You are extremely lucky. We are murderers with principles, but not everyone is the same. Kalala is very serious; he wants you dead. We don’t even know if there are other killers whom your husband has ordered to murder you.”

Noella was given 80 hours to leave the country. Before leaving her on the side of the road, the leader handed her a memory card—a piece of evidence containing all the recorded phone calls. They also provided the receipts for the Western Union money transfers. However, Noella would never forget the last words she heard from the kidnappers:

“We just want you to go back to tell other stupid women like you what happened. You must learn something. You people get a chance to go overseas for a better life, but the money you are earning, the money the government gives you—you use it for killing each other.”

In the middle of the night, Noella realized she had very little time to lose. Right away, she called the pastor of her church, Dasana Haruna Nantagma, back in Melbourne. The pastor was shocked to hear her voice due to the deception created by Kalala. When Noella told her about her husband’s evil plan, even the pastor had a hard time believing her. In the end, however, the pastor was convinced to help. Noella pleaded not to tell anyone that she was still alive; for her, she had been given a new life to straighten things out, and she wouldn’t miss the world for a chance to see the reaction of her dear husband.

Back in her family’s town in Melbourne, Australia, Kalala appeared like a grieving widower. Days earlier, when he received the assassin’s call that they had already killed Noella, he had sadly informed the community that she died in a tragic accident in Burundi. Kalala spent the days mourning with well-wishers, many of whom came to offer their support, compassion, and donated money. He looked like a devastated husband who had lost someone so dear to him. However, it seemed that things were not going to be as easy as he had planned.

On February 22, 2015, Noella had returned safely to Melbourne, more careful and vigilant than ever. She got news of the fake funeral her husband had cunningly organized. Of course, it is quite an honor to be able to attend your own funeral alive. It was around 7:30 PM when Noella, while sitting in a parked car just in front of her home, noticed that her husband was escorting the last group of well-wishers to their cars. As they drove away, she decided it was the perfect time to present her surprise.

When Kalala was left alone on the porch, Noella slowly made her entrance. Even in the dark, she saw her husband’s reaction upon seeing her; his mouth was open wide, and a look of absolute terror was beginning to show. She walked closer without speaking a single word. Her husband kept talking to himself, as if he were seeing a ghost. When they were inches apart, Kalala touched her shoulders, then jumped back when he reached out to touch her again. It was then that he realized she was not just an apparition.

Kalala then started to scream, asking for forgiveness. In the past, Noella had always forgiven Kalala for hurting her physically; she had even believed him when he said his violence was just a result of the trauma he brought from his native land. She loved him dearly and was always willing to accept him. But this time, he had reached the limit—he had gone far beyond it.

Noella called the police, whom she had contacted beforehand. They ordered Kalala off the premises. A few days later, she obtained a court order against him. To make her case strong, she followed the policeman’s instructions and called her husband. It was then that he made a full confession, entirely without his knowledge that the murder confession was being recorded on tape. According to Kalala, he loved her so much and was suspecting that she would later leave him for another man; he said the evil deed was planned out of jealousy. But no matter how much he tried to excuse it, Noella’s heart and mind were already closed. She had had enough.

When Kalala was brought in for official questioning, he tried for hours to deny that he was the mastermind. He told the police he was incapable of such a thing. However, when the police played the recordings of his voice confessing to the plot and the reasons why he had paid killers to murder his wife, he realized he had nowhere left to go. Kalala started to cry.

Noella, as well as the police, were still unable to fully comprehend the real reason why Kalala resorted to such evil. All that he could ever say in his defense was:

“Sometimes the devil can come into someone to do something, but after they do it, they start thinking—why did I do that thing?”

On December 11 of the same year, the court in Melbourne sentenced Kalala to nine years in prison. He pleaded guilty to the incitement of murder, and that evidently lessened the punishment given to him.

Even when he was put behind bars, Noella wasn’t able to get her normal life back right away. When she was lying alone at night, she kept on hearing her husband’s voice telling the assassins to kill her. She knows it will take a long time to heal, or perhaps the scars will never truly vanish at all. Despite Kalala’s admission, there were still some people in their Melbourne African community who ostracized Noella for her husband’s conviction; some of them, having known Kalala for so long, still believed he was not capable of such a thing.

Although Noella sees that the future will be difficult for her and her eight children, she doesn’t regret her decision to have him put behind bars. He had committed an unforgivable sin, and her trust and love for him were gone completely. She might be devastated as a wife, but she ensures that she will take care of her eight children for as long as she lives. After everything that happened, she knows that she needs to be stronger than ever.

When asked about the people who blamed her, Noella held her head up high and said:

“My situation, my past life—that is gone. I’m starting a new life now.”