Whether it is the bellow of Cinque (Make Me Free) , the liberation tactics of Nat Turner, the proactive organizing of John Brown, the declaration of independence on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial by Martin Luther King, Jr or the if i have but one life to give for my country Mandela proclamation, the echoes and resonance of the Bob Marley Freedom Song rings from every hill and molehill.
Immaculee Ilibagiza a Rwandan Holocaust Survivor shared her story, of survival, hope and forgiveness on February 5, 2010 .We should all congratulate the Yale University African American Affinity Group . They had the foresight and wisdom to provide a free event and free food for the community to imbibe the fellowship and communion. I have heard her speak several times filtered by the medium of a "TV Box." Even if you have a jumbo screen her message is much larger than any contrived invention of dissemination. Like the eternal beating of the african drum, you must hear her in person if the opportunity comes your way.
As she recounts her mental fight with life and death while confined to the bathroom avoid being killed by those that looked like her , but were of another tribe. This bathroom hideaway was either to be her death bed or saving grace. She references biblical stories such as Jonah and the whale, the resurrection of her Savior, Christ the Lord and her Catholic teachings. She reminded us that the faith and forgiveness journey pertains to all of us regardless of your religious persuasion. Yes, to hear her in this setting was clearly a personal testimony and faith claim story telling but what a story to hear!
Immaculée Ilibagiza (b. c. 1972) is a Rwandan author and motivational speaker. She is also a Roman Catholic and Tutsi. Her first book, Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust (2006), is an autobiographical work detailing how she survived during the Rwandan Genocide. She was featured on PBS on one of Wayne Dyer's programs, and also on a December 3, 2006 segment of 60 Minutes (which re-aired on July 1, 2007).
Left to Tell recounts how Immaculée Ilibagiza survived for 91 days with another seven other women during the holocaust in a damp and small bathroom, no larger than 3 feet (0.91 m) long and 4 feet (1.2 m) wide. Immaculee speaks all over the world and is the recipient of the 2007 Mahatma Gandhi Reconciliation and Peace Award.
Immaculee is a NY Times Best Selling Author and her writing is needless to say artful and profound. But we folks of the 3D-wraparound generation like it all and want it all .To be enveloped in her story and to vicariously feel her heroic journey in her presence was priceless . As we celebrate Black History Month, or as I like to define as the Global African Genesis Month, to have her share her beliefs, passion, faith and inner trials perhaps depicts what Global African Genesis Month is really about. This journey of human kind, colored by hate, colored by love, colored by pain, colored by joy is to be experienced by all as we collectively march toward freedom
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=183212&id=585698688&l=a075beda76
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=183249&id=585698688&l=96781f01d9
CNN interview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-Fl89XOud8
http://www.yale.edu/yaaa/
http://www.lefttotell.com/
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