Immaculée Ilibagiza, a survivor of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and a New York Times best-selling author, spoke to the Mount Saint Mary College community about her journey of survival and forgiveness on Tuesday, October 19.
In her talk, "Immaculée: A Story of Survival, Faith, and Forgiveness," Ilibagiza inspired the audience of about 100 people with her story of turning toward God and away from hate.
Ilibagiza was born and raised in a small village in Rwanda, Africa. While home from the National University of Rwanda, where she was studying electrical and mechanical engineering, her life was transformed forever. The assassination of the Hutu president on April 6 of that year sparked months of massacres of Tutsi tribe members throughout the country – known today as the Rwandan Genocide.
Ilibagiza's father told her to hide at a local pastor's house for protection. She and seven other women hid in the pastor's bathroom for the next 91 days, while the genocide raged on. During the ordeal, Ilibagiza turned to prayer. When she was finally liberated, she emerged weighing 65 pounds. Her entire family had been murdered, with the exception of one brother who was studying abroad. In addition to her family, one million of her fellow Rwandans had been killed.
Fr. Gregoire Fluet, college chaplain and director of Campus Ministry at the Mount, coordinated this on-campus event.
"The talk was extremely powerful," he explained. Fr. Fluet was touched by the message of forgiveness as an empowering quality, as well as "the notion that God is real and [Ilibagiza's] incredible insight...that the people who hurt us often do not fully understand what they are doing, because they are blinded by anger and hatred."
Mount sophomore Kimberly Uszacki, of Staten Island, N.Y., found the talk "truly amazing."
"Forgiveness is not something easy to do, especially in [Ilibagiza's] circumstance," she said. "Within the past year, I've dealt with some confrontations among friends, and I have yet to forgive them full-heartedly...But after attending this talk and hearing what Immaculée has been through...I can learn to forgive those people who hurt me."
"Immaculée was very inspiring to me," said Kaitlyn Corrigan of North Massapequa, N.Y., a Mount sophomore and executive vice president of the Mount's Student Government Association (SGA).
"She opened my eyes to how hardships impact people in different ways," Corrigan said. "I now have a different outlook on struggles others face as well as myself and will restore that compassion, forgiveness, and faith into my life from now on."
Joshua Laskowski of Islip Terrace, N.Y., a Mount senior and SGA president, said he was moved by Ilibagiza's story of returning to Rwanda to meet one of the men who murdered her family.
"She quoted a line from the Bible saying, 'Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they are doing' and then she did exactly that – she forgave the man in prison," Laskowski recalled. "I think this relates to so much that is happening in our world right now, and it really moved me to always remember to forgive those that have done you wrong."