BETHLEHEM, Pa. — The inspiring story of Rwandan native Immaculee Ilibagiza will be presented Oct. 5 at the St. Francis Center for Renewal here. The speaker will describe her captivity and escape during the 1994 Rwandan genocide of Tutsis by the Hutu majority.
The presentation, “A Story of Faith, Hope and Forgiveness,” will be held at 7 p.m. at the center operated by the School Sisters of St. Francis.
During the Rwandan genocide, Ilibagiza spent 91 days huddled silently with six other starving women in a cramped bathroom of a local pastor’s house. Four years later, she immigrated to the United States.
On Sept. 11, Ilibagiza, 38, spoke at Oak Knoll School in Summit, N.J., at an event planned by Legatus, an organization of Catholic businessmen. The presentation, which emphasized forgiveness, attracted nearly 400 attendees.
Earlier this year, she was the keynote speaker at the commencement ceremony of Siena College in Loudonville, N.Y.
Ilibagiza’s best-selling book, Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust, was adapted into a play, Miracle in Rwanda.