When the holocaust was over, Iligabiza was sent to refugee camps, and at long last she was presented with the opportunity to meet Felicien, the leader of the gang who killed her mother and brother, who was now in prison. Felicien was filthy, bruised, broken and embarassed. His feet had open, running sores and he was emaciated. Iligabiza reached out, touched his hands and said "I forgive you." When her friends asked her how she could do that, Iligabiza said "forgiveness is all I have to offer."
Eventually Iligabiza was reunited with her one remaining brother, Aimable, and started working at the U.N. in New York City. She met and married Bryan Black and now has a daughter and son. "Every morning when I wake up to my two little angels, I can see the beauty and power of God in their faces. I never stop thanking Him for all His precious gifts."
Many real-life storyteller victims are stuck in the unhappy rut of tainting the present with the past. The event is constantly analyzed, questioned and relived. Perpetrators are judged as bad. Payback is sought, and happiness or peace cannot be found until the big scoreboard in life is made even. We see that Iligabiza has the same negative thoughts as everyone else on the planet, but we also see that she does not keep them. Iligabiza points another way by chosing to focus on more uplifting ideas. There is no end to the value of Iligabiza’s shining example.
Article comments
1 - isabelle
i like the story, i've been reading something else on a little girl who lost her parents in Rwanda's war 1994.
She was lost for a while but then God answered her prayers...
"So many people perished during the genocide, and yet God preserved me...God saved me when i didn't even know Him, and He brought me from death to new life in Jesus."
She met a kind man and his wife who befriended her. they invited her into their home and shared food with her, talked about the loving care of God..they were Seventh-day Adventists..the little girl name Denise loved these people because they wanted to help her find her family.But when they found no living relative,they asked Denise's permission to adopt her.She agreed. At last she had a home again and someone to care for her. the couple often talked to her about GOD.
Denise learned that her father had died in a refugee camp. But she never learned about what had happened to her mother..She was told that she has other relatives in Rwanda, and one day she would like to meet them. But she is torn. She loves her adoptive parents and the God they taught her to love.
" They have given me spiritual roots and a hope for the future," she says.
2 - Billy Bob Joe
Cheez-it.