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May
21, 2007 
VOL.
45, NO. 10Oakland,
CA
All O’Dowd students to read 'Left to Tell'
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Although students
are counting down the last days of the 2006-2007 school year, new and
returning students at Oakland’s Bishop O’Dowd High School
have already received their first assignment for September – to
read “Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust”
by Immaculee Ilibagiza before classes resume in the fall.
In the book, Ilibagiza recounts how her life was turned upside down in
1994 when her country descended into bloodshed. A three-month killing
spree swept across the country and claimed the lives of Ilibagiza’s
family and nearly a million other Rwandans.
She survived by hiding in the tiny bathroom of a Hutu pastor with seven
other women for 91 days. Throughout her ordeal, Ilibagiza, who grew up
in a devout Catholic family, relied on her faith to help her survive.
That faith has also helped her to forgive the murderers and reach out
to others in her community
Ilibagiza’s book is “beautifully written” and tells
“about finding empowerment through prayer and relying solely on
God’s love and intervention for survival,” wrote Regina Linskey
in a recent book review for Catholic News Service. Linskey noted that
Ilibagiza tells her story with such clarity and truthfulness “that
it is a blessing and a curse for the reader.”
Self-growth and individual growth are not the focus of this survivor’s
story. Rather the woman’s journey dwells more on a deepening dependence
on others, especially on God and prayer. “Her submission to God’s
will is humbling as is the bravery she was granted through prayer.”
Despite the horrors she has lived through, it is Ilibagiza’s ability
to forgive – her family’s murderers, her neighbors, God and
herself – that runs deep in the book. Linskey described “Left
to Tell” as a “timeless and universal story, fit for any reader
ready for inspiration.”
The book is the centerpiece of Bishop O’Dowd’s “One
Book, One Community” program. On the first day of their English
classes this fall, students will be tested to determine how well they
know key events in the book. Discussions are also planned in English and
religion classes on the Oakland campus.
While advised that there is no written assignment about the book over
the summer, students are nonetheless encouraged to conduct their own research
about the author and Rwandan history “to provoke” their own
thinking about the book.
Programs and events in support of the “One Book, One Community”
program will be announced in early fall.
