Left To Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust [Hardcover]

Immaculée Ilibagiza (Author), Steve Erwin (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 15, 2006

Immaculee Ilibagiza grew up in a country she loved, surrounded by a family she cherished. But in 1994 her idyllic world was ripped apart as Rwanda descended into a bloody genocide. Immaculee’s family was brutally murdered during a killing spree that lasted three months and claimed the lives of nearly a million Rwandans.

    Incredibly, Immaculee survived the slaughter. For 91 days, she and seven other women huddled silently together in the cramped bathroom of a local pastor while hundreds of machete-wielding killers hunted for them.

    It was during those endless hours of unspeakable terror that Immaculee discovered the power of prayer, eventually shedding her fear of death and forging a profound and lasting relationship with God. She emerged from her bathroom hideout having discovered the meaning of truly unconditional love—a love so strong she was able seek out and forgive her family’s killers.

    The triumphant story of this remarkable young woman’s journey through the darkness of genocide will inspire anyone whose life has been touched by fear, suffering, and loss.

This is Immaculee’s first book.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. In 1994, Rwandan native Ilibagiza was 22 years old and home from college to spend Easter with her devout Catholic family, when the death of Rwanda's Hutu president sparked a three-month slaughter of nearly one million ethnic Tutsis in the country. She survived by hiding in a Hutu pastor's tiny bathroom with seven other starving women for 91 cramped, terrifying days. This searing firsthand account of Ilibagiza's experience cuts two ways: her description of the evil that was perpetrated, including the brutal murders of her family members, is soul-numbingly devastating, yet the story of her unquenchable faith and connection to God throughout the ordeal uplifts and inspires. Her account of the miracles that protected her is simple and vivid. Her Catholic faith shines through, but the book will speak on a deep level to any person of faith. Ilibagiza's remarkable path to forgiving the perpetrators and releasing her anger is a beacon to others who have suffered injustice. She brings the battlefield between good and evil out of the genocide around her and into her own heart, mind and soul. This book is a precious addition to the literature that tries to make sense of humankind's seemingly bottomless depravity and counterbalancing hope in an all-powerful, loving God. (Mar.)
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About the Author

Immaculée Ilibagiza was born in Rwanda and studied electronic and mechanical engineering at the National University. She lost most of her family during the 1994 genocide. Four years later, she emigrated to the United States and began working at the United Nations in New York City. She is now a full-time public speaker and writer. In 2007 she established the Left to Tell Charitable Fund, which helps support Rwandan orphans.

Immaculée holds honorary doctoral degrees from The University of Notre Dame and Saint John’s University, and was awarded The Mahatma Gandhi International Award for Reconciliation and Peace 2007. She is the author, with Steve Erwin, of LEFT TO TELL: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 215 pages
• Publisher: Hay House; First Edition edition (February 15, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401908969
• ISBN-13: 978-1401908966
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (734 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #30,137 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #6 in Books > History > Africa > Rwanda
  • #9 in Books > History > Africa > Central Africa

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

159 of 163 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Gave me back my hope March 25, 2006

By Concy

Format:Hardcover

As a survivor of the genocide of Rwanda, this book reminded me of my own ordeal during the genocide. At first I was angry with Immaculee when I read the summary of her book, how can she forgive? Then when I started reading the book, I understood, I couldn't put it down, I couldn't stop crying, so many feelings that I thought existed only during that time, came back, I felt a lot of thirst, my mouth dry as well, my heart beating very fast...however at the end of the book I felt that something great have happened to me, a HEALING. I felt an excitment to live and to dream again, to stop living in the past, it reminded me that we are all God's children and that there's always HOPE.

Thank you Immaculee, God worked through you!

154 of 163 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars "Shining and Beautiful in Body and Soul" Immaculee Ilibagiza: A Grace of God March 1, 2006

By Barbara Rose VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Immaculee's crucial book "Left to Tell" is beyond an account of the perils of genocide she survived by the Grace of God in Rwanda; Immaculee herself is a Grace of God for humanity.

Her story reaches the core of my being, as it will anyone who has a heart. But it is not just her story that is simultaneously so unfathomable yet so compelling, it is the love and forgiveness she radiates to all who were the killers of her very own family.

Both she and her precious book serve as an example from On High. The Christ-like forgiveness and compassion, the mission to help orphans left alone from the genocide of their parents, and her message of becoming one with God amidst our darkest hours, is indeed a sainted mission.

I applaud Immaculee; her courage in painstakingly detailing her accounts that ultimately created this book; her mission, and the purest love she radiates that is a profoundly bright light doing nothing less than bringing the Light of God into the hearts of humanity.

Let us join her to help the orphaned children. Visit orphansofrwanda.org for ways to help. Thank you, Immaculee, for sharing how God's Love can triumph and transform. Thank you for your profound book and for being a Grace of God.

Barbara Rose, Ph.D. author of If God Was Like Man, Know Yourself and If God Hears Me, I Want an Answer!

157 of 172 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful book February 22, 2006

By Kat Bakhu

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Left to Tell is one of those books that I feel so grateful to the author for taking the time to write, for it offers improvement to us all. It is heart-touching, edifying, and life transforming. It tangibly teaches us, through the author's very real life trials, that there is more to life than we normally see, a divine element, and that life only becomes what it was meant to be when we bind with the spiritual in the depths of our human hearts.

In a way, Left to Tell reminded me a little bit of another fabulous book, Embraced by the Light. But in Embraced by the Light, Betty Eadie had to die to experience another reality. In Left to Tell, author Imaculee had so many thousands die around her, including her dearest family members (I write this weeping), to ultimately discover the truly beautiful Divine Reality that is always with us, if we would only call to It sincerely and passionately enough.

The story in Left to Tell is a tragic story that is still being played out today. Humanity is still plagued by groups of people who feel determined to wipe out other groups of people. The spiritual disease is the same, only the names and labels change. Read Left to Tell and you will learn that the only way to go is Love, and the only thing to offer is forgiveness. You will also learn that no matter what travesty hits you, no matter your age or situation in life, through faith in God's power, you can craft the life He intended for you. Left to Tell is indeed a beautiful book that is highly recommended. And I do thank the author for her sharing.

36 of 38 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Book The Entire Planet Should Read!!!! March 10, 2006

By D. Watson

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I was up until 2:30 in the morning because I could not put this book down...

well except for the times that I was sobbing for several minutes at a time.

But even though this book is an unflinching account of

the some most heinous brutality in world history, it is amazingly

uplifting.

Some one else's review discribed Immaculee as a Grace of God.

And that she is. I'm not religious but I am spiritual, and even

though Immaculee is a devout Catholic, her spiritual revelation

transcends any religion. Her message of a love and forgiveness

so vast it is nearly incomprehensible, points the way to the only

way to recover from the mass insanity of the world today.

Immaculee, thank you for sharing your story, thank you for

how your book will make a difference in so many lives that

will touch the world. I want to share this book with everyone

I know.

This is one of the most important books I've ever read. In my life.

God Bless you Immaculee.

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Hell on Earth; Paradise in Her Soul September 16, 2006

By Robert W. Kellemen

Format:Hardcover

Many authors try to solve the mystery of suffering by examining it purely through a theological grid. Others attempt to understand evil only through the framework of personal experience. Immaculee Ilibagiza combines both. Her devout faith in a good God along with her hell-on-earth, paradise-in-her-soul approach makes "Left to Tell" a unique and rewarding book.

Every honest person admits that they want to discover God amidst the good and the bad of life. We all ask the questions that Ilibagiza addresses. "Where is God?" "How do I forgive evil?" Few are forced to probe such questions in the midst of such soul-numbing devastation.

Through her candid autobiography of suffering, heaven and hell meet, paradise and prison convene. Through her riveting account of their encounter, readers bump up against the reality that the infinite love of an all-wise, but often mysterious God, can provide hope to the hurting, release from rage, and faith during the darkest night of the soul.

Reviewer: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., is the author of "Soul Physicians," "Spiritual Friends," and "Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction."