Genocide survivor spoke to Erath students about her experience

ERATH - Immaculee Ilibagiza, author of the New York Times best seller “Left to Tell, Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust” Friday spoke to students at Erath High School.
Ilibagiza is a survivor of genocide in Rwanda in 1994.
The EHS sophomore class read her book for the first time this school year.
EHS teacher Lucia Viator, because of family members who read it, knew about the book and got permission for her English classes to read it.
Then, after Thanksgiving, one of her students planted the seed by saying, “I would love to meet her.” After making phone calls and learning Illibagiza was visiting Louisiana to speak in Thibodaux today, she was able to get her to drive to Erath and talk to the student body.
After she spoke, she took group shots with Viator’s English classes.
EHS sophomore Tori Floril enjoyed Ilibagiza’s one-hour speech.
“She is inspiring,” said Floril “I thought I would cry while listening to her.”
.Because they read the book, the sophomores knew she hid in a 3-by-4 foot bathroom with seven other women and girls during the brutal killing of what would eventually total more than 1 million of her countrymen - she spoke instead about the climate that prevailed in the country leading up to the genocide.
Rwanda’s radio talk shows “were teaching people to hate us.” She said they would openly discuss, “‘One day we’re going to kill them,’” meaning members of the Tutsi tribe. She said members of the country’s Tutsi tribe also did not like the country’s president, a member of the Hutu tribe. But no one ever thought about “If he was killed – then what?”
Ilibagiza is Tutsi and her parents were respected members of the community who had raised their children to ignore the hate and strive for an education. She was attending college and had come home for a brief visit that turned into the three-month long ordeal. It would also be the last time she would see her parents and two of her three brothers.
Ilibagiza described the day the massacres began. It was the day the president of the country was killed. Her brother came to tell the family and she remembers her father turning on the radio, and learning that the government had shut down all activities including schools and transportation, and had closed its borders. The killing began, with the aggressors having access to the addresses of all the Tutsi families. “It was an attempt to eliminate a whole group of people,” she said.
But, she said she learned lessons of forgiveness and the power of love in that small room that sheltered the eight survivors. “When you truly love, forgiveness comes in your heart. War is where people fail to love,” she said.
Still, “There are lessons learned and somehow pain has a way of teaching us.” She said how people talk about people is important. “If we don’t turn our hearts, it (the genocide) will happen again.” No matter who provokes her, she said the lesson is to know God exists without a shadow of a doubt.
“It’s really about looking in the eyes of God and realizing yes, the world can be mean. But you can’t judge people who hate you.” She said people bully because they don’t have faith and need prayers. “Without faith, we’re going to exploit the world.”
She closed her speech by saying, “No matter how bad it gets, as long as you are still breathing, there is hope. Always hold on to hope. Also, if I can forgive the people who did this, then anyone can forgive.”