Left To Tell

There was a divider in the middle of the room--not soundproof and a little tipsy if you bumped it just right. I could hear everything on the other side; she could hear everything on my side. I had to be careful. I was working with behavior disordered students--sometimes loud and rambunctious. It was 1994, and I shared a classroom with a fellow teacher.

It was 1994, Immaculee IIibagiza lived in a small bathroom with a toilet, a shower, and six other women who could not speak to each other for fear of being heard or could not leave for fear of being killed. Outside, Hutu warriors--armed with machetes and swords--raped, mutilated, and brutally murdered. Immaculee lived in this little bathroom with her father's rosary in her hands for three months. She lost half of her body weight and was covered with sores when she fled in the middle of the night to another sanctuary.

As I read LEFT TO TELL, I asked myself, how could I not know about this?  Millions of Tutsis were murdered in what was called an ethnic cleansing in Rwanda. I am careful about recommending the book, as there were times I wanted to put it down and not finish; however, there are also miracles in the book. Imaculee was "left to tell," and because she was left to tell, we can learn from her story of survival. Not only did she survive, she forgave the Hutu warriors (some of them former neighbors and friends) who had brutally murdered much of her family and friends.


If you're thinking this happened in Africa--another continent--worlds away, with a culture we do not understand, I want to tell you that Immaculee had a college education as did all of her brothers and parents. They owned a nice home (by a lake), a car, and a motorcycle. They went to church every Sunday.... need I say more?

I sometimes wonder what our responsibility really is to those who live in other countries--those living in poverty, those being persecuted by others, etc. I don't have an answer for this, other than to pray for direction, to pray for guidance.

... on another note, if you're having difficulty forgiving someone in your life, think of Immaculee, or read the book and you'll start to understand how insignificant, perhaps, your reasons not to forgive may be. You'll also understand the freedom you will feel when you finally can forgive.


Immaculee currently works for the United Nations in New York City.