LEFT TO TELL
Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust
By: Immaculee Ilibagiza, with Steve Erwin
Hay House, Inc. 2006

Immaculee Ilibagiza was raised in Rwanda. She was surrounded by a very supportive and caring Catholic family. What turns out to be a bitter irony, she describes her place of birth as Paradise. During Easter break from college in 1994, at the age of 22, Immaculee visits her native village of Mataba. Shortly after, horror descends in the form of genocide. The death of the Hutu president, Habyarimana, is followed by a three month genocidal attack by Hutus against Tutsis, killing almost one million.

As Tutsis, Immaculee and her family at first cannot believe what is happening. In shock and desperation, they quickly realize that they must leave their village to have any chance of surviving this hellish reality. So the family separates. Immaculee tries to save herself by hiding in a very small washroom of the local pastor’s house. Outside the home, and in the rest of the country, Tutsis are slaughtered in churches, in homes, in open fields and government buildings for three months. For what were 91 interminable days, Immaculee and seven other women managed to stay alive in the cramped washroom, with little to eat or drink.

What do you do when everything you have is taken away from you? Where does the will to live come from when you have lost contact with your family and don’t know if they’re alive or dead? When you have machete-wielding killers hunting you down, chanting they want to spill your blood, and at times entering the very house in which you’re hiding, how does a person stay sane and try to hold on to the will to live? During that endless time of unimaginable terror, Immaculee finds the answer to these questions in prayer and in a deep connection to God. When at last the madness ends and she can leave her hiding place, Immaculee has found the true significance of loving, even when it hurts beyond what’s humanly bearable. She writes: “In the midst of the genocide, I’d found my salvation. I knew that my bond with God would transcend the bathroom, the war and the holocaust ... it was a bond I knew would transcend life itself.”(Page, 107)

This is a love so powerful that she’s able to forgive those who killed nearly her whole family. As you read this story, you may be brought to tears in so many parts, you will travel with this remarkable young lady into the abyss of hell, but her faith- filled spirit and unwavering belief in God shine a light against the darkness: a light shining as a beacon of human hope and inspiration. References to her Catholic upbringing reverberate throughout the story. However, when “60 Minutes” did a feature interview about her, there was no mention about her religious beliefs at all. Perhaps this fact gives us a glimpse of why our society is in so many difficulties.

In any case, some would argue that man’s inhumanity to man is limitless, but Immaculee’s struggle to defeat her tormentors is proof of a greater truth: God’s boundless love for human beings can redeem us from the evil we perpetrate. Her experience is a testament to this loving and merciful God. If we sow hatred, we’ll reap death and destruction. It happened in Nazi Germany, and we said, “Never again.” Here’s how Immaculee explains why it happened again: “Young Hutus were taught from an early age that Tutsis were inferior and not to be trusted, and they didn’t belong in Rawanda. Hutus witnessed the segregation of Tutsis every day, first in the schoolyard and then in the workplace, and they were taught to dehumanize us by calling us ‘snakes’ and ‘cockroaches.’ No wonder it was so easy for them to kill us—snakes were to be killed and cockroaches to be exterminated.” (Page, 86)

There’s a human lesson in this: when language becomes a tool to demean others in order to make them feel worthless, and we bleach out any reference to God, we’re gullible and ready to do the unthinkable. We give ourselves permission to kill, to hurt and destroy. We break human moral law, but above all we break divine law.

“In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart”. These are the inspiring words of Anne Frank in her book, “The Diary of a Young Girl.” The words accurately capture the theme of “Left to Tell.” Anne did not survive the concentration camp, but her essential goodness can still be found in the living monument of her diary. What helped Immaculee survive the ordeal was prayer, including the rosary, and trust in God: “Everything strong and good in me-my faith, hope and courage-was vulnerable to the dark energy. If I lost my faith, I knew I wouldn’t be able to survive. I could rely only on God to help me fight.” (Page, 80) Prayer became my armour and I wrapped it tightly around my heart.”(Page, 85)
Near the end of the book, when she meets, face to face, the person who killed both her mother and brother, she calls him by name and says, “I forgive you.” Those present are shocked and the chief magistrate is furious: “What was that all about, Immaculee? That was the man who murdered your family. I brought him to you to question... to spit on if you wanted to. But you forgave him! How could you do that? How could you forgive him?” She responds: “I answered him with the truth: Forgiveness is all I have to offer.”

This is truly an astonishing story told by a very courageous young lady. We should all read it to see how prayer and a God-driven life can help to bring down the walls of selfishness and hatred that are intentionally used to divide people.

I only wish Oprah would make “Left to Tell” her Book of the Month so that so many more people could read it.

Report written by Lou Iacobelli.
You can contact Lou at louiac@hotmail.com

Past Book reviews:

Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church
PUBLISHER: Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops Publications Service
PUBLICATION DATE: 2005
Book review for November - December 2008 ________________________________________________________________

LEFT TO TELL
Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust
By: Immaculee Ilibagiza, with Steve Erwin
Hay House, Inc. 2006
Book review for September - October 2008
________________________________________________________________

Bioethics Matters:
A Guide for Concerned Catholics
Author: Moira McQueen
Publisher: Novalis: 2008
Book review for July - August 2008
________________________________________________________________

A Civilization of Love:
What Every Catholic Can Do to Transform the World
Author: Carl Anderson
Published by: Harper Collins, 2008
Book review for June 2008.