Immaculée Ilibagiza survived the genocide in Rwanda in 1994 by silently, fearfully, huddling in a bathroom with seven other women for 91 days while machete-wielding killers hunted for her. She lost most of her family members, but gained her life’s mission.
Ilibagiza wrote about her horrific ordeal in Left to Tell (Hay House, 2006), which has sold more than 250,000 copies worldwide and was released in paperback this year. The book was made into a documentary, which will be screened at DU’s Newman Center for the Performing Arts on Nov. 1 at 7:30 p.m. After the film, Ilibagiza will answer questions from the audience.
When the genocide began, Ilibagiza was a 22-year-old college student home for Easter break. The three-month-long massacre ended with the killing of nearly a million Rwandans. Yet through that brutality Ilibagiza gained a profound faith in God and prayer. Her book recounts her fear, her faith and the almost unbelievable fact that she forgave the perpetrators.
“Rwanda can be a paradise again, but it will take the love of the entire world to heal my homeland,” she writes on her Web site. “And that’s as it should be, for what happened in Rwanda happened to us all — humanity was wounded by the genocide.”
Ilibagiza has created the Left to Tell charitable fund, which has raised more than $150,000 for the orphans of Rwanda.
Tickets are $38 and can be purchased through Newman Center, Ritchie Centerand TicketMaster box offices. For more information, call the Newman Center at 303-871-7720.