Immaculee Quotes

In the year of 1994 and estimated eight-hundred thousand Rwandans were killed between April and June. There was not a day were the Tutsis was not being killed by the Hutus. Imagine one-hundred days of straight killings of your friends and family. It would leave you in a never-ending nightmare and you would be scarred for the rest of your life. Imagine if you were stuck in a bathroom so small that it could barely fit two people in there but you had five or six more people in there. It would be hot, it would smell, and it would be uncomfortable. Immaculée Ilibagiza had to go through the entire Rwandan Genocide in this type of situation. She barely ate and barely went to the bathroom because if the Hutu heard Immaculée or any of the other girls

in the bathroom flush the toilet they would have died. She did not have any of her family with her or friends all she had was her new "family" in the bathroom that she did not know before. There are many themes in the book that Immaculée wrote Left to Tell. The one that stands out the most to me is family. Even though her family was not with her doing the genocide she had Jesus. Jesus told Immaculée one day during the genocide that her family was dead but she always had Him as family. You have a family for a reason and family is important to everyone especially to Immaculée. During the genocide her only "family" were the girls in the bathroom with her, the priest, and Jesus and even after the genocide she was there for her family.
Immaculée was a very faithful person
Immaculée's relationship with her family was very bountiful.

Her family was insanely important to her and to prove this there is a quote in the book Left to Tell: "I wish I had known that night was to be our last family supper together. I would have stood up and thanked God for all of them. I would have told everyone sitting around that table how much I loved them and thanked them for loving me. But I didn't."(Immaculée and Erwin 41). Immaculée's family consisted of Marie Rose Kankindi her mother, Leonard Ukulikiyinkindi her father, and her three brothers Damascene Jean Muhirwa, John Marie Vianney Kazaneza, Aimable Ntukanyagwe. Aimable was her oldest brother and was not in Rwanda during the days of the genocide thankfully, but her other two brothers Damascene and John Vianney were not as lucky as Aimable was sadly. Her family was so important to her because she knew it was the only family she had and she knew that bad things would happen and they were the only people who would help her in her tough times and heartbreak times. Immaculée loved Vianney the most because he is the youngest child and in the family and Immaculée felt that she has to care for Vanney because he is the youngest and because he is very lovable and everybody likes him according to Immaculée and her description of Vianney. Before the genocide started Immaculée was kicked out of school for not knowing if she was Hutu, Tutsi, or Twa. He parents never told Immaculée that she was Tutsi before that time

because they cared about her and did not want her to be discriminated or discriminate other people. Right before the genocide he father went to prison for being a Tutsi and the person who ordered his arrest was his childhood best friend. He told the guards not to feed him or give him and water. After he got out and went back to his family they all saw what he looked like and Immaculée knew what he said was not true she knew that it was a misunderstanding because loved her father and knew him extremely well. Immaculée also had a lot of friends and they were family to her not all family is blood some family is gained through a long friendship. During the genocide Immaculée made a new temporary family.
When the genocide started took her brother Vianney to the priest house for a safe haven from the Hutus.

Immaculée had friends who were Hutus and in the beginning of the genocide such as one her most dearest friends and Immaculée could even call Janet family. "I staggered into the hall and leaned against the wall. How could my dearest friend turn against me? We'd loved each other like sisters once-how could she be so cruel now? How was it possible for a heart to harden so quickly?"When Immaculée and Vianney show up to the pastor's house Janet said she would never hide a Tutsi in her house. The pastor told Immaculée that her little brother Vianney has to go in the morning. She was furious but she knew it would have to be for the best for Vianney and hopefully he survives the genocide. Immaculée hid in a bathroom with seven girls Athanasia (14), Beata (12), Therese (55), Claire, Sandra, Malaba, and Solange. For three months these girls were in a bathroom with each other. They kind of became a small family from this and even made their own sign language so they could talk to each other. Therese had some family in the bathroom which was her kids. They didn’t argue about anything because there wasn’t anything to argue about and they only had each other to talk to in the intensely small bathroom. The girls in the bathroom did not know what was happening outside of the bathroom so they were important to each other for those three months. When the French arrived Immaculée and all

the other girls left for it. They made it there safe and Immaculée felt like she was a mom to the orphans who were at the French Camp. She loved them as Immaculée's mother loved Immaculée. Immaculée wanted to know what happened to her family after the genocide and she found out what happened.
She back to her parents house and the house by the lake to find her family. At the lake house she found Damascene which there was nothing left of him except a beaten, torn apart body. She knew her parents were dead and she also knew that John Vianney was dead. Immaculée proceeded to give her family a proper burial at her destroyed home in Rwanda since she was the only one to survive the genocide that was in her family other than Aimable who was in a different country in college. Immaculée gave her family a proper burial because she loved them and wanted them to rest in peace. Immaculée loved her family that much that she went out in danger to find their bodies and give them a proper burial. After this entire ordeal she wrote books about the genocide and her experience and married and had kids to carry on her family legacy and became a representative for the U.N. "When morning broke, the birds in the pastor's shade tree began singing. I was jealous of them, thinking, How lucky you are to have been born birds and have freedom - after all, look at what we humans are doing to ourselves." She did not know if she would survive the genocide and she did and the morning is heaven and the birds are her family that she lost. She knew the real importance and what family really meant to her.
Immaculée's knows what the true meaning of family is. She knows that everyone is her family because she knows how to forgive because she is a full believer in God and knows that everyone is her brother and sister through Christ. Family was important to her because she knew it was the only family she would have as a child and she loved them with all her heart. The people in the bathroom with her... Well, she felt that they were family because they were the only people that she could talk to for three months. Immaculée felt very strongly about her family even when they were dead. She went to look for her family knowing that she was in danger and she even gave her family a proper burial at the remains of her house. Family is always there for you when you need them and they will never leave you because they love you and you love them.