Immaculee Ilibagiza, what a woman. My junior year of high school, Immaculee came to my school and gave a talk. It was a big deal because our administration took a trip to Rwanda and met Immaculee and invited her back to my high school. When i found out that BV was having her, i did a mental double take? Like WHHAA? twice in a period of four years seeing the same amazing woman is rare.

So when asked to read her book for a second time, i was excited. I've was required to read her book Left to Tell in my literature class and we wrote journals everyday. I re-read the journal writings and compared them to the feelings i held the second time around. The part of her story that surprised me the most was knowing how her family stood among the village. Her father was a man people came to for help and for guidance. So she saw people in their most vulnerable states, but then after the genocide began, people continued to turn to her father for help. The most interesting part of the genocide is how people completely forgot their morals and values. She described how neighbors slaughtered each other, family friends and people who had been under cohabitation in the same village for up to multiple years. What intrigued me about this was where is the switch that turned on that made people ruthless killers? This fact also disturbed me. Knowing that there have been instances where certain people for whatever reason can turn on you, makes me feel less likely to trust anyone.