this woman's story touched my soul!

The story of Immaculee Ilibagizia is like none that I have ever read! She is an absolutely incredible woman with a story of survival, strength, faith, and drive that is almost impossible to believe. It is hard for me to even imagine the experiences that she has not only survived, but overcame triumphantly. She has written about her experiences during the Rwandan Holocaust in 1994 in the book "Left to Tell". This was our book club's selection for May, and I am so glad that I read it. Her story is not an easy one to hear, as it is horrendous. But, if you can get through the ugliness of what happens around her, you see the amazing beauty that she possesses.

For hundreds of years, the Tutsi & Hutu tribes have been at odds with each other in Rwanda. There were 2 genocides in the 20th century prior to the one that Immaculee experienced. She is Tutsi and a college student in Rwanda at the time her country turned into absolute mayhem. The Hutu tribe began "exterminating" (as they called it) every Tutsi in Rwanda. They would not stop until every Tutsi was dead. Immaculee was from a very religious family, and it was her faith that got her through this nightmare. She ended up in hiding in a bathroom for 3 months (with 7 other women), while being literally hunted by her neighbors. She lost her entire family, with the exception of one brother who was out of the country at the time. As she tells her story, you learn of her unfailing faith in God. She puts her life in God's hands and witnesses one miracle after another, as her life is preserved. She truly is a miracle, as there were close to 1 million people who lost their lives in this short 3-month time span.

As I got to the end of the book and read about how she emerged from this nightmare and rose to tremendous heights, I felt so inspired. My emotions were stirred at this point, for I could not comprehend what she had been through, and then to see who she is now . . . truly she was preserved by the hand of God and "left to tell" this story to inspire others to forgive and love and reach to heights they never dreamed possible. As I read this story I just kept thinking, "and all the while that she was sitting in a bathroom, I was living my happy & basically care-free life in the United States, not even knowing that thousands upon thousands of people were being killed." It just didn't seem right! Her incredible faith and her ability to forgive made me want to be a better person. My heart and soul were truly touched and I would love to meet this most amazing woman.