Alex HackettVoigtAcademic English 128/24/12Think BiggerLeft To Tell by Immaculee Ilibagiza is an autobiography of Immaculee’s life and all the obstacles that she endured through her years. Immaculee was born in Rwanda and grew up during a time of great prejudice and discrimination. Rwanda is a small African country that is enriched with “rolling hill; mist-shrouded mountains; green valleys; and sparkling lakes.” (pg. 3) When the Belgian settlers discovered the land, they called it “the land of eternal spring.” (pg. 3) Rwanda has two tribes that share the land. These two tribes are the Tutsi and the Hutu tribes. Immaculee belonged to the Tutsi tribe and never occurred a major problem with the Hutu tribe until a tragic night in the spring of 1994. When the Belgian settlers came and established the land, they set up a monarchy with a Tutsi controlling the land as the king. The Belgians liked the way that the Tutsis mannered themselves, which resulted in the Tutsis having a better education and obtaining better jobs. In 1959, the Tutsis tried to acquire their independence from the Belgians. This led to the Belgians encouraging the Hutus to engage in a violent revolt. The Hutus took over the government and when the Belgians left the country in 1962, the Hutus had total control. In 1973, the Hutus led a persecution against the Tutsis, killing many and setting fire to their houses. There has always been tension between the two tribes, which had even resulted in the exileof some Tutsis. The Hutus were attempting to balance the society’s jobs and schooling to the ethnic structure. Hutus made up 85% of Rwanda meaning that the Hutus would get the better jobs and the better education. What this really did was “ensure Tutsis status as a second class citizen.” (pg. 18.) Immaculee was the second best student in her class but was not granted a scholarship to high school because of her ethnicity. Her family had to sell two cows just to afford her education. “Selling two cows was an invitation to financial ruin.” (pg. 19) The Hutus wanted to maintain their power and eliminate the Tutsis intellectual class. All of this hatred led to a bloody genocide that the country could never have imagined. The Rwandese Patriotic Front, a group of Tutsis that was exiled to Uganda, had crossed the border and was willing to fight for the right to live in a country that was free and equal. The RPF, headed by Paul Kagame, the current president of Rwanda, was beginning to fight up North and was going to fight until they could live in their home country with equality for all. Eventually the RPF and the Rwandan government, under pressure from international affairs, came to peace. However, President Habyarimana still set up a Hutu extremist group called the Interahamwe meaning “those who attack together.” (pg. 33) This attracted many Hutu boys and eventually thousands of boys were being trained to kill. The Interahamwe had total control and could do whatever they want. Not even the police would stick up to them. This was the start of the killing of the Tutsis. On April 6, 1994, President Habyarimana was returning home from peace talks in another country when his plane was shot down in the capital of Rwanda. It has later been proved that Hutu extremist shot down the plane. This sparked thebeginning of the genocide and the end to the peace treaty that the Tutsis and Hutus had previously agreed upon. The night of the President’s death, Immaculee’s small village of Mataba experienced the fate that nobody should ever face. By the next morning, almost all the Tutsis were in her family’s front yard seeking help from Immaculee’s father. There were Hutu extremists just waiting to attack and kill as many “cockroaches” as they could. This was the fate that Tutsis were facing all around the country. There was almost nowhere safe and there was no escaping death. In the months to follow, Tutsis were “dropping like flies.” There was nothing the Tutsis could do with the close to the whole Hutu population after them. With an almost 1 to 6 ratio of Tutsis to Hutus in Rwanda, it was nearly impossible to escape death. Luckily for Immaculee, a kind Hutu pastor took her and several other women and hid them in a bathroom at his house. Unfortunately, many others didn’t have the luck that Immaculee had. The Hutus’ goal was to kill out the whole Tutsi population and make sure there were no more “cockroaches” to make life for the Hutus bad. TheInterahamwe were setting up roadblocks all along Rwanda and killing any Tutsi that they would run into. They would kill entire families and groups of people at one time. Many Tutsis would go to churches and pray and the Interahamwe would burn down the churches, killing all those inside. They would then shoot all those running out of the church. There was no stopping the Hutus. In the aftermath of the genocide,over 800,000 men, women, and children were executed (United). The women would be brutally raped and then executed. Whole communities would be burned down. The only left buildings untouched would be houses belonging to Hutus. If one wereto walk outside at this time, they would see piles of dead bodies just rotting and being eaten by animals. The genocide lasted for more than three months. For more than three months, Tutsis were scared for their lives and thinking they wouldn’t make it to the next day. Immaculee felt like her purpose after the genocide was to help all those survivors and future generations of Tutsis. She also wanted to tell her tale and make people aware of the horrors that were taking place. Throughout her time in the bathroom, it was a struggle for Immaculee. She was constantly doubting God and asking Him how he could let such a terrible thing happen. During her three months in the bathroom, there wasn’t any chance to talk. Thus, all of her time was spent withGod and praying. She was asking Him to give her the strength to forgive the killers of not only so many people throughout her country, but her family and loved ones as well. This was a struggle for her and she didn’t know how she could ever do this. After the genocide had ended and Immaculee had begun a job at the United Nations, she went to the prison to confront the killer that had killed her mother and brother. Both Immaculee and the killer were in tears and the only words Immaculee could make was “I forgive you.” (pg. 204) She later told the prison master that,