Immaculee Ilibagiza was brought up at the lovely shores of Lake Kivu in a nation she adored; Rwanda. She was surrounded by a family she cherished and with a close-knit Roman Catholic upbringing.
Rose and Leonard, Immaculee’s parents, adored all four of their kids, of which she was the only daughter. She had a happy childhood, was especially close to her brother Damascene, and was free to roam around her hamlet of Mataba. She also had a gift for intelligence.
Photo: Upper House
Her parents, who were both teachers, encouraged her brilliance by emphasizing the value of education. She achieved academic success and received a top-notch education. Throughout her formative years, she attended the neighbourhood school run by her mother. She later completed her high school studies at a boarding school and joined the National University in Butare.
In 1994, she went home from college to spend Easter with her family when the assassination of Rwanda’s Hutu president Juvénal Habyarimana in a plane crash began a three-month massacre of almost one million ethnic Tutsis in the nation. At 22 years old, her peaceful life was torn apart as Rwanda plummeted into a brutal genocide.
Despite being trapped for 91 terrible days with seven other malnourished women as dozens of assassins with machetes hunted for them, Immaculee miraculously survived the massacre.
Photo: St. Linus Parish
Immaculee learned the power of prayer during those interminable hours of unbearable agony, eventually losing her fear of dying and developing a profound and enduring relationship with God.
She emerged from her toilet hiding place having learned what it meant to experience true, unwavering love—a love so powerful it enabled her to seek out and pardon the people who had murdered her family. Anyone whose life has been affected by fear, sorrow, or loss will find inspiration in the triumphant account of this exceptional young woman’s trek through the darkness of genocide.
Photo: EWTN
Her Catholicism is evident, yet the work is deeply meaningful for anyone of any creed. Ilibagiza’s inspiring journey toward letting go of her resentment and forgiving the offenders serves as a beacon for other victims of injustice. She transformed the genocide around her into the war between the good and evil inside her heart, mind, and soul.
Title: Left to Tell; Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust
Author: Immaculee Ilibagiza
Publisher: Hay House Inc, 2014
Length: 256 Pages
Article by Agnes Aboo (@wilfrida_agnes)
Email: agnesaboo@upeohubdigital.co.ke