Surviving the Rwandan Genocide: Immaculee's Story of Faith, Hope and Forgiveness

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.