by Angelle Albright
Immaculee She was left to tell us.
WHEN A FRIEND GAVE ME a last-minute ticket to hear a woman speak at a sold-out event back in 2009, I had no idea how accepting that invitation would change so many lives forever. I was already riveted when I first heard Paulette Renaudin’s heartfelt introduction describing her three-
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Inside Northside
year journey to get this woman to speak at Mary Queen of Peace Church in Mandeville, but when this angel, this living saint, took the stage, I could barely breathe as she started telling her story. Immaculee Ilibagiza was almost glowing as she shared her harrowing tale of how she survived the 1994 Rwandan genocide by hiding in a 3-by-4-foot bathroom with seven other women for 92 days. She came out weighing only 62 pounds and barely alive to find out she had lost nearly every person she had ever known and cared about. Yet, she gained something so much greater in those three horrifying months that would shape the rest of her life—the gift of true faith and forgiveness that only Heaven could grant. Immaculee shares the details in her New York Times Best Selling Book, Left to Tell, and I always tell people, “Don’t open the pages of this book unless you are ready for your life to change!” She has spoken around the world to millions of people and been summoned by two popes and three presidents to share her story. Even though she lives in New York and has been featured on CNN and 60 Minutes, this world-renowned speaker and recipient of the Mahatma Ghandi reconciliation and peace award has deep ties to our community. After being so moved by her story, Jane Harvey and I decided to join Immaculee on her first-ever pilgrimage taking people back to her homeland of Rwanda. We headed to Africa in March 2010 with only 15 other pilgrims. We visited Kibeho, the site of the only Vaticanapproved Marian apparition on the continent of Africa. When Mary appeared to three college girls there from 1981-1989, she said her messages were meant for the whole world. One of the reasons the church approved the messages so quickly was that Mary predicted the genocide 12 years before it took place. Immaculee grew up with complete knowledge of the messages Our Lady gave to the visionaries, and many people believe she survived the bathroom so that she could share those messages with all of us. We came home wanting to share all we learned on that pilgrimage, knowing many people would be too frightened or unable to travel so far, so we decided to hold a weekend retreat to allow others to learn what Heaven wanted us to know. The Polish priest who hosted us in Kibeho flew in for the retreat at St. Joseph Abbey in 2010, and we surprised him by showing >>
photos courtesy: ANGELLE ALBRIGHT
Traces