Survivor of Rwandan Genocide speaks at EU

September 20, 2007
Contact: Paul K. Logsdon, Director of Public Relations and Publications, (417) 865-2815 ext. 7292

Springfield, Mo. — Rwandan Genocide survivor Immaculee Ilibagiza will speak at Evangel University on Monday, Oct. 1, at 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. in the Chapel auditorium. The event is free and open to the public.

LifeWorks, Evangel’s Center for Leadership and Life Calling, has invited Ilibagiza to share her experience of surviving the genocide and talk about the forgiveness she feels toward the Hutu tribe that killed her family and nearly one million Tutsis.

“She now devotes her life to sharing her story and the virtues of forgiveness to people around the world,” Dr. Robert Berg, LifeWorks director, said.

Ilibagiza’s book, “Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Genocide” tells her story, and she has been featured on 60 Minutes on CBS. Also, Academy Award nominated team Steve Kalafer and Peter LeDonne directed a documentary film about Ilibagiza, titled “The Diary of Immaculee.”

Ilibagiza was 22 years old when the Hutu tribe gathered and, in 100 days, slaughtered 800,000 of the Tutsi tribe minority. Ilibagiza’s family was Tutsi — her parents, grandparents, and three brothers were slaughtered by the Hutus.

“I remember looking up to the hill across the river. And I saw somebody actually with a machete cutting somebody. And we were all like, ‘Wow! Something’s happening here. They’re going to kill us,’” Ilibagiza said.

Ilibagiza escaped the fate of her family by hiding in a small bathroom of a minister’s house with seven other women for 91 days. “And I went to him. I was shaking. I told him ‘My father asked me to come here because things are getting really bad in our village,’” she recalls. “And he took me. He said, ‘Come, come.’”

This event, sponsored by LifeWorks, is the first in a yearlong series titled, “Faces of Forgiveness.”

LifeWorks, The Center for Leadership and Life Calling, is a multidimensional program designed to help Evangel students explore God’s call on their life and integrate it with their life goals and career. LifeWorks provides funding, information and resources, and is partially funded by a generous grant from Lilly Endowment, Inc.

For more information, contact Dr. Robert Berg at (417) 865-2815 Ext. 7896.