Students seek insight from Rwandan Genocide survivor

October 2, 2007

Rwandan genocide survivor Immaculee Ilibagiza was the guest speaker at Evangel University on Oct. 1, where she shared about the horrific events she lived through in 1994, her daily struggles and how she was able to forgive.

As the author of "Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Genocide," she was the first speaker in the University’s yearlong series, “The Faces of Forgiveness.”

Following the morning chapel session, Evangel students learned more about her experiences in a question-and-answer forum.

Ilibagiza answered questions about the deplorable living conditions she and seven other women endured, as they hid in the bathroom at a minister’s home for 91 days. She spoke about redefining normal after losing her family and her life as she had known it, and she shared about finding love and building a new family.

One question was, “What was going through your mind when you met the man who murdered your brother?”

At the thought of meeting him, “I was so scared,” Ilibagiza said.

This man had been respected in her community — she described him as a well-dressed man who always wore a suit. He was the Hutu who killed her brother.

When they met, Ilibagiza said he was a much different man than she had known before the genocide. Standing before her was a man whose face, hair and clothing she described with one word: dirty.

As she observed the shadow of a man who had once been an important member of her community, her fear dissipated and turned to compassion for him.

She looked into the face of a man she had known all her life, the man who killed her brother for being a Tutsi, and said, “I forgive you.”

She explained that people often wonder how she could have forgiveness for a man who killed her brother, but Ilibagiza wanted to give him a chance. “I wanted him to free himself,” she said.

Ilibagiza encouraged students to show their love and forgiveness to others, even when others cannot understand the will to forgive.

As students lined up to have Ilibagiza sign copies of her book, many shared stories, hugs and tears, thankful for her willingness to share.

The “Faces of Forgiveness” series is sponsored by LifeWorks, Evangel’s Center for Leadership and Life Calling. For more information, visit LifeWorks.

More about Immaculee Ilibagiza.