Surviving the Rwandan Genocide: Immaculee's Story of Faith, Hope and Forgiveness
Immaculee Ilibagiza
Wednesday, 04 Nov 2009 at 8:00 pm – Great Hall, Memorial Union
Immaculee Ilibagiza is a survivor of the 1994 Rwandan genocide and author of Left to Tell: Discovering God amidst the Rwandan Holocaust. She and seven other women spent 91 days huddled together silently in the bathroom of a local pastor's house - a trauma from which she emerged half-starved and to find her entire family had been brutally murdered. Immaculee used her time in hiding to teach herself English with only the Bible and a dictionary; once freed she was able to secure a job with the United Nations. In 1998 she immigrated to the United States, where she continued her work with the UN. Her story has been made into a documentary titled The Diary of Immaculee. She recently hosted a documentary titled Ready to Forgive, An African Story of Grace, broadcast on NBC and the Hallmark Channel. She is also the author of Led By Faith: Rising from the Ashes of the Rwandan Genocide. Msgr. James A. Supple Lecture and part of the World Affairs Series.Bob Simon told the story of Immaculee Ilibagiza in the 60 MINUTES segment, "Surviving Genocide," which was originally broadcast on Dec. 3, 2006.
View the story here: Rwandan Genocide Survivor Recalls Horror
Cosponsored By:
- Catholic Student Community
- St. Thomas Aquinas Church & Catholic Stud. Ctr.
- World Affairs
- Committee on Lectures (funded by Student Government)
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