 Immaculee Ilibagiza
It is hard to imagine, looking at the beautiful smile of Immaculee Ilibagiza, that this young woman has been the witness of unspeakable hatred, terror, and devastation. Despite all she has experienced, she continues to radiate love and joy to everyone she meets. Her story of survival, healing and forgiveness is one of the most remarkable we've ever heard, and now we want to share it with you.
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Immaculee's Youth
Immaculee was born in 1970 on the shores of Lake Kivu in the country of Rwanda. Her parents were both teachers and highly respected members of the village. They were devout Catholics who taught Immaculee and her three brothers to live and love the Faith. The family was part of the Tutsi tribe, although Immaculee's parents worked hard to overcome the tribal divides and teach their children to love everyone they met. All of the children wanted to become teachers so they could help others improve their lives. When she grew older, Immaculee attended the National University of Rwanda where she studied electronic and mechanical engineering.
The Rwandan Genocide
Between 1990 and 1993, a civil war raged in Rwanda between ethnic Hutu and Tutsi rivals. A power sharing government was eventually established, but any hopes of peace were destroyed when the Hutu president was assassinated on April 6, 1994. Immaculee was in her freshman year of college, but was home for the Easter break during this time. On April 7th, as news of the president's death spread, Hutu militias began a widespread, coordinated killing of Tutsis. Across the country, Tutsis were hunted down and killed in their tracks. In Immaculee's own village her father tried to persuade villagers to keep the peace, but in the end former friends and neighbors turned into murderers. Her father gave her his rosary and sent her to hide in the home of a nearby Hutu who was an Episcopal pastor.
100 Days of Killing - 91 Days of Hiding
 Pastor Murinzi led Immaculee to a tiny bathroom where seven other women were already packed together. The women were kept hidden for 91 days from the minister's family as well as the Hutu militias. The women could barely move in the 3'x4' bathroom, and they didn't dare stand up or make a sound. Since the women were seen entering the house, it was stormed by Hutus, one even calling for Immaculee by name. Miraculously, they never opened the bathroom door where the women were hiding!
In June, French forces arrived in Rwanda. While opposing sides argue about the role the French played in quelling the genocide, their arrival saved Immaculee and her companions. In the middle of the night on July 7th they snuck out of the bathroom and ran to a nearby French camp. They were finally safe, but soon realized the extent of the rampages. By the time the killings were stopped, 800,000 people had died, representing three out of every four Tutsi. Immaculee's whole family was gone.
Healing and Forgiveness
In her inspiring books, Immaculee shares how her father's rosary and her deep Catholic Faith kept her mind and heart from sinking into despair and hatred. Through her continuous and heartfelt prayers she has found the courage and grace to say, "I forgive you" to those who killed her family. She has also made it her life work to spread the message of forgiveness and God's love. In 1998 she moved to the United States where she is now a public speaker and author. She has won many awards for her work, including the Mahatma Gandhi International Award for Reconciliation and Peace, American Legacy's Women of Strength & Courage Award, honorary degrees from five universities, and she was featured in Michael Collopy's Architects of Peace project. In 2007 she founded the Left to Tell Charitable Fund which raises money to care for children orphaned during the Rwandan genocide.
Shop for Immaculee's Books & DVDs
Left to Tell
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$14.95
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Left to Tell
Her story will touch you deeply. You will feel her fear, you will cry, and you will ask yourself the same questions that we as a people have been asking forever: How could this happen? Where does such animosity come from? Why can't we just be like God, Who is the Source for all of us? But you will also feel something else most profoundly: You will feel hope, a hope that inch by inch, we as a people are moving toward living God-realized lives.
Also available:
Left to Tell (DVD)
Left to Tell (4-CD Set)
Left to Tell - Spanish Edition (Sobrevivir para Contarlo)
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Led By Faith - Rising from the Ashes of the Rwandan Genocide
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$14.95
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Led By Faith - Rising from the Ashes of the Rwandan Genocide
In the sequel to her first book, Immaculee takes us with her as her remarkable journey continues. Through her simple and eloquent voice, we experience her hardships and heartache as she struggles to survive and to find meaning and purpose in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide. It is the story of a naive and vulnerable young woman, orphaned and alone, navigating through a bleak and dangerously hostile world with only an abiding faith in God to guide and protect her. Immaculee fends off sinister new predators, seeks out and comforts scores of children orphaned by the genocide, and searches for love and companionship in a land where hatred still flourishes. Then, fearing again for her safety as Rwanda's war-crime trials begin, Immaculee flees to America to begin a new chapter of her life as a refugee and immigrant - a stranger in a strange land.
Also available:
Led By Faith (4 CD Set)
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The Diary of Immaculee
(DVD)
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$12.95
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The Diary of Immaculee (DVD)
With powerful and emotional on-camera appearances from the good Samaritans who kept Immaculee alive in Rwanda, to inspirational personalities such as Dr. Wayne W. Dyer and Carl Wilkens, this amazing story of a journey through the darkness of holocaust will touch your heart and soul. This is a documentary that will take you to a place where horror and hope and hatred and love lived side by side, clasping hands and breathing the same air. With unwavering faith and courage, one young woman faced the threat of unspeakable acts; endured incomparable despair; and quietly, graciously, and bravely came through the living hell of holocaust searching for safety, peace, and an everlasting Heaven. Approximately 40 minutes running time.
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Our Lady of Kibeho -
Mary Speaks to the World from the Heart of Africa
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$13.95
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Our Lady of Kibeho - Mary Speaks to the World from the Heart of Africa
Thirteen years before the bloody genocide that swept across Rwanda, Mary and Jesus appeared to eight young people in the remote village of Kibeho. Through these visionaries, Mary and Jesus warned of the looming holocaust, which (they assured) could be averted if Rwandans opened their hearts to God and embraced His love. Much like what happened at similar sites such as Fatima and Lourdes, the messengers of Kibeho were at first mocked and disbelieved. But as miracle after miracle occurred in the tiny village, tens of thousands of Rwandans journeyed to Kibeho to behold the apparitions. After the genocide, and two decades of rigorous investigation, Our Lady of Kibeho became the first and only Vatican-approved Marian site in all of Africa.
Also available:
Our Lady of Kibeho - Spanish Edition (Nuestra Señora de Kibeho)
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