Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust

Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust, by Immaculée Ilibagiza is an autobiography published in 2006. Immaculée is a survivor of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, which lasted from April to July that year. During this 100-day period, it is estimated that nearly a million Tutsis were killed by Hutus, the tribe that comprised the majority of Rwanda’s population at that time. Immaculée is a Tutsi and a 22-year-old college student when the genocide begins. In order to survive, she hides in a small bathroom without ever leaving, along with seven other women, for three months. Both her parents and two of her brothers—Damascene and Vianney—are killed in the genocide. Immaculée and her eldest brother Aimable are the only remaining members of her family. Immaculée sees it as her spiritual duty to tell the story of her family, and the horrors of the Rwandan genocide, to the world at large.

The book is divided into three parts. In Part 1: “The Gathering Storm,” Immaculée describes her early childhood in Rwanda and the structure of her family. Her parents, Leonard and Rose, are educators and well-respected community members in their village of Mataba.