Immaculée Ilibagiza (born 1972) is a Rwandan American author and motivational speaker. Her first book, ''Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust'' (2006), is an autobiographical work detailing how she survived during the

Rwandan genocide The Rwandan genocide occurred between 7 April and 15 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. During this period of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi minority ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Twa, were killed by armed Hutu ...

. She was featured on one of

Wayne Dyer Wayne Walter Dyer (May 10, 1940 – August 29, 2015) was an American self-help author and a motivational speaker. Dyer completed a Ed.D. in guidance and counseling at Wayne State University in 1970. Early in his career, he worked as a high sch ...

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

programs, and also on a December 3, 2006, segment of ''

60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who chose to set it apart from other news programs by using a unique styl ...

'' (which re-aired on July 1, 2007). In ''Left to Tell'', Immaculée Ilibagiza shares of her experience during the 1994 Rwandan genocide. She survived hidden for 91 days with seven other women in a small bathroom, no larger than 3 feet (0.91 m) by 4 feet (1.2 m) (an area of 12 square feet). The bathroom was concealed in a room behind a wardrobe in the home of a

Hutu The Hutu (), also known as the Abahutu, are a Bantu ethnic or social group which is native to the African Great Lakes region. They mainly live in Rwanda, Burundi and the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, where they form one of the prin ...

pastor. During the genocide, most of Ilibagiza's family (her mother, her father, and her two brothers Damascene and Vianney) was killed by Hutu

Interahamwe The Interahamwe ( or ) is a Hutu paramilitary organization active in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. The Interahamwe was formed around 1990 as the youth wing of the National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development (MRND ...

soldiers. Besides herself, the only other survivor in her family was her brother Aimable, who was studying out of the country in

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 � ...

and did not know of the genocide. Ilibagiza shares how her Catholic faith guided her through her ordeal and describes her eventual forgiveness and compassion toward her family's killers. Ilibagiza's second book, ''Led by Faith: Rising from the ashes of the Rwandan Holocaust'' (2008), picks up where she left off in ''Left to Tell.'' She tells her story of survival immediately following the genocide she had lived through. It describes how her faith in God kept her going as she struggled to find her place in the world again, and it also shows how she sought out and encouraged many of the orphans who were equally lost. She finally finds a safe refuge in the United States where she is able to look back at everything she had been through. It is in this safe place where she has the potential to reflect on why she lived through the experience at all. In 2006, a documentary short about her story, ''The Diary of Immaculée'', was released by Academy Award–nominated documentarians Peter LeDonne and Steve Kalafer. Ilibagiza speaks all over the world and is the recipient of the 2007

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

Reconciliation and Peace Award. In 2012 she was the June 9 speaker for the Robert E. and Bonnie Cone Hooper Plenary Address of the Christian Scholars Conference at

Lipscomb University Lipscomb University is a private university in Nashville, Tennessee. It is affiliated with the Churches of Christ. The campus is located in the Green Hills neighborhood of Nashville, between Belmont Boulevard to the west and Granny White Pike on ...

. In 2013, Ilibagiza became a naturalized U.S. citizen. She studied electrical and mechanical engineering at the

National University of Rwanda The National University of Rwanda (NUR; rw, Kaminuza nkuru y’u Rwanda, french: Université nationale du Rwanda, UNR) was the largest university in Rwanda. It was located at in the city of Butare and was established in 1963 by the government ...

and received honorary doctorates from the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...

in 2007 and St. John's University in 2008.

Books

*Ilibagiza, Immaculée (with Steve Erwin). ''Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust''. Carlsbad, CA:

Hay House Hay House is a publisher founded in 1984 by author Louise Hay, who is known for her books on New Thought. Hay House has its headquarters in Carlsbad, California, and is (as of 2018) run by Reid Tracy. Hay House descr ...

, 2006. . *Ilibagiza, Immaculée (with Steve Erwin). ''Led by Faith: Rising from the Ashes of the Rwandan Genocide''. Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, 2008. *Ilibagiza, Immaculée (with Steve Erwin). ''Our Lady of Kibeho: Mary Speaks to the World from the Heart of Africa''. Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, 2008. *Ilibagiza, Immaculée. ''The Boy Who Met Jesus: Segatashya Emmanuel of Kibeho'' (November 28, 2012) Carlsbad, CA: Hay House *Ilibagiza, Immaculée (with Steve Erwin). ''The Rosary: The Prayer That Saved My Life''(August 15, 2013) Carlsbad, CA: Hay House

References

External links

Immaculée.com
– Official website
Immaculée Ilibagiza
in

Rwandan Genocide Survivor Recalls Horror

segment was originally broadcast on December 3, 2006, and updated on June 28, 2007. Transcript and video segment (12:57). *''At Issue: Survivor of Rwanda''
Windows MediaQuickTime
. Interview of Immaculee Ilibagiza on
At Issue
'', episode #2011, November 22, 2007, (26:47); produced by PBS station

WTVP WTVP (channel 47) is a PBS member television station in Peoria, Illinois, United States, owned by the Illinois Valley Public Telecommunications Corporation. The station's studios are located on State Street in downtown Peoria, and its transmitter ...

Peoria, Illinois Peoria ( ) is the county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, United States, and the largest city on the Illinois River. As of the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census, the city had a population of 113,150. It is the principal city of the Peoria ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ilibagiza, Immaculee 1972 births Living people 21st-century American women writers Genocide survivors American motivational speakers Women motivational speakers People of the Rwandan genocide Place of birth missing (living people) Rwandan emigrants to the United States Rwandan Roman Catholics Rwandan women writers Tutsi people Naturalized citizens of the United States 20th-century American women 20th-century American people 21st-century Rwandan women