Left To Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust

My book, called “Left to Tell” is a memoir about the Rwandan genocide in the early 1990’s. Immaculee, the main character, describes her account of the events that occurred around her home. Just stories from her point of view shed some light on cultural differences between the country of Rwanda and the United States.

Immaculee and her family are considered a higher class family, residing in a nicer home with furnishings, a garden, and a courtyard. Many other homes were smaller and not as nicely finished as theirs was. They had plumbing, as other homes did not. Although the women in this society were still used for house chores and other “women’s work”, children and wives had a close relationship with the fathers and husbands in their lives. Imaculee’s father was considered of high importance in the village. Everyone knew everybody in town, and whenever there was a problem, everyone knew to talk to Leonard.

When the first attacks from the RPF occurred just on the outskirts of the town, flocks of worried men, women, children, and entire families, gathered on their front lawn, asking for his guidance. This shows that although he was not the richest man in the village, his education was considered enough to make him worthy of guidance to the villagers. It also shows that people in this culture placed high importance on education.

Many decisions made in the village depended on your status – Hutu or Tutsi. The Tutsi’s were not favored among the people of Rwanda, especially in the village where this memoir takes place. For example, when Immaculee applied for high school and college, she did excellent on the entrance exams – highest among the girls in her grade, even passing some of the boys. Because she was a Tutsi, she was denied her education. Thankfully, her father was friends of the school teacher and was able to get her into both high school, then college. It’s sad to think that your history and background, religion, social status, or governmental label could prevent you from an education or other privileges.

I hope that in finishing my book, the many questions I have about the Rwandan genocide and culture will be answered. Why did the Hutu extremists believe that the time the war broke out was the right time? How else are Tutsi people discriminated against? What role will women play in the ending of the war? Hopefully all of these questions can be answered, thanks to Immaculee’s memoir.