Turning hatred into hope

Immaculée Ilibagiza’s story is a remarkable one. In 1994, she spent 91 days hiding in a cramped bathroom with seven other women while outside many of her friends, family and fellow Tutsi were being slaughtered by the rival Hutus during the bloodiest period of the Rwandan Civil War.

In her book Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust, Ilibagiza shares her story of survival and loss and recounts her touching journey toward forgiveness through faith.

The Baton Rouge One Book One Community (OBOC) program has chosen Left to Tell as its 2008 summer reading selection. The OBOC initiative encourages all Baton Rougeans to read a common book in an effort to create dialogue in the community concerning important issues.

Past selections like Life on the Color Line: The True Story of a White Boy Who Discovered He Was Black by Gregory Howard Williams and Breach of Faith: Hurricane Katrina and the Near Death of a Great American City by Jed Horne focused on issues hitting very close to home such as race relations, education, politics and, of course, Hurricane Katrina, but Ilibagiza’s touching memoir will lend a more global perspective to a number of issues plaguing contemporary culture and society.

“Many of the things Immaculée touches on relate back to basic human rights,” says Michelle Spielman, an OBOC committee member. “It is a bit of a departure from our past topics, but I certainly think it will generate dialogue and get people talking.”

Ilibagiza emigrated from Rwanda to the United States four years after the genocide and began working for the United Nations in New York City. Since then she has started the Iligabiza Foundation to assist others healing from the long-term effects of genocide and war. She has appeared on CBS’s 60 Minutes and was the subject of a documentary called The Diary of Immaculée. She has also received several humanitarian awards including The Mahatma Gandhi International Award for Reconciliation and Peace and the American Legacy’s Women of Strength & Courage Award.

“It’s really amazing that in today’s modern world people are still killing other people en masse because they don’t share their religious beliefs or like the way they look,” says Robin Kistler, an OBOC committee member. “[Left to Tell] can be hard to read at times, but it is also amazingly uplifting and powerful in its message of forgiveness.”

Ilibagiza will read from her book at an appearance at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Aug. 23. readonebook.org