Immaculée Ilibagiza

Join us for an unforgettable evening listening to one of the world’s leading speakers on faith, hope and forgiveness share her shocking story of survival against all odds in the midst of the Rwandan Holocaust. Immaculée Ilibagiza is a Rwandan genocide survivor who is now a nationally acclaimed speaker and award-winning author of several books. Her incredible survival story “Left to Tell” has been adopted into the curriculum of dozens of high schools and universities. She has received honorary doctoral degrees from several universities including the University of Notre Dame. Her story is currently being made into a major motion picture soon to be released. She will share her journey of survival, hope and a faith that could move mountains and led to many miracles. Immaculée’s story is one of ultimate forgiveness for the brutal trespasses against herself, her family and her friends for crimes that rocked her country and left a nation in despair.

Immaculée Ilibagiza is a survivor of the 1994 Rwandan genocide that took the lives of nearly one million Tutsis. Men, women and children, including her entire family except for one of her brothers, were massacred at the hands of Hutu marauders. Immaculée found shelter at a pastor’s home, where she and seven other women hid from the deadly rebel mob in a 3-by-4-foot bathroom for 91 days. During those 91 days of unimaginable suffering, Immaculée found her faith, taught herself English, and most incredibly, committed herself to a life of peace, hope and forgiveness, even for those who had murdered her family. Immaculée has gone on to work at the United Nations, receive five honorary doctoral degrees, write seven books about her faith and her life journey, and is the recipient of the Mahatma Gandhi International Award for Reconciliation and Peace.