E185: She Forgave Her Family's Murderers w/Immaculee Ilibagiza
The Lila Rose Show
Lila Rose
4.8 • 2.7K Ratings
🗓️ 31 January 2025
⏱️ 104 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
She survived the Rwandan Genocide. For three agonizing months, Immaculée Ilibagiza hid in a tiny bathroom with seven other women, knowing that at any moment, they could be discovered and killed.
When she finally emerged, she was met with unimaginable loss—her family and friends had all been brutally murdered. But in the face of such horror, Immaculée's faith remained unshaken. She found hope, clung to grace, and powerfully forgave those who took everything from her. Her story is both heartbreaking and inspiring, and I’m deeply honored to have this conversation with her. I hope it moves you as much as it did me.
Immaculee’s website: https://www.immaculee.com/
Her instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ilibagizaimmaculee/
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00:00:00 - Intro
00:01:46 - Immaculee’s Background
00:05:50 - Marian apparition
00:11:16 - CrowdHealth
00:12:15 - Franciscan University
00:13:17 - History of tribal hatred
00:17:36 - She only had a rosary
00:20:46 - Lost 50 pounds
00:24:02 - “What changed was my heart”
00:26:44 - They came to search, I knew my life was over
00:37:56 - Meditating on Jesus’ death
00:40:26 - A million people dead…
00:48:30 - Media fomenting hatred
00:58:23 - Patterns in the killers?
01:05:03 - Her first job afterwards
01:13:10 - Encounter with rosary
01:25:31 - American Media
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I lived in Rwanda during the genocide, and I belonged to the tribe that was being killed. |
| 0:04.0 | They have given order to kill everyone of our tribe. |
| 0:06.0 | How did you stay in a three by four foot bathroom, eight women? |
| 0:10.0 | Eight people. |
| 0:11.0 | We sat on top of each other. |
| 0:12.0 | When I went in the bathroom, I was 115 pounds, but when I came out, I was 65 pounds. |
| 0:17.0 | Three months later, when I came out, a million people was killed. And among them, |
| 0:22.2 | my parents, my mom was killed, my dad, my two brothers, everybody was killed. And I remember |
| 0:27.1 | reading the Bible and I reached this part. Forgive them. They don't know what they do. Everything |
| 0:31.7 | changed in that moment. Literally. |
| 0:35.8 | Immaculate, thank you so much for joining the podcast. |
| 0:38.8 | Thank you so much for having me. |
| 0:40.3 | I'm really happy to be here. |
| 0:41.6 | It's such an honor and privilege to sit down with you. |
| 0:44.3 | And I think I read your book, Left to Tell 15 years ago when it was around first coming out, |
| 0:51.3 | and I was incredibly inspired and moved. |
| 0:55.0 | And to get to sit down with you is such an honor and privilege. |
| 0:59.0 | So thank you for making the time for this and telling your story. |
| 1:03.0 | Thank you. |
| 1:04.0 | Thank you. |
| 1:05.0 | Yeah, I know I remember when I wrote the book, I was really surprised by the how it is, it touched people. |
| 1:12.0 | The outcome was very shocking because I guess when you go through things in your heart, |
... |
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