Immaculee Ilibagiza: I've never felt pain in my life as I did that time
Immaculee Ilibagiza shares the heartbreaking story of how she survived the Rwandan genocide in an interview on 'Tucker Carlson Today.'
Rwandan-American author Immaculee Ilibagiza recounted the harrowing experience that left her hiding in a bathroom from her potential killers for months during the Rwandan genocide of 1994, telling Fox News' Tucker Carlson how she rose from the ashes of pain without bitterness toward others.
Ilibagiza found herself in the middle of her country's civil war and, along with it, a months-long genocide of her people, the Tutsi.
Her family was ripped from her when they were killed along with other Tutsi, leaving her to hide alone until the day soldiered showed up to murder her.
"I saw them through the tiny window of the bathroom, and I didn't know they were coming, so they came very quiet," she said on the latest installment of Fox Nation's "Tucker Carlson Today."
Immaculee Ilibagiza inside the bathroom where she hid during the Rwandan genocide of 1994. (Fox News/Tucker Carlson Tonight)
"They were dressed in banana leaves, they had all kinds of arms, grenades, they had guns, long spears…" she added.
Ilibagiza told Carlson her potential killers kept quiet but suddenly began to scream once they reached the courtyard of her home.
"They did [that] eight times," she said, explaining that those hunting for Tutsis kept quiet until they reached the home so no one would run away before they arrived.
She said screaming inside the house aimed to terrorize and flush out those hiding inside.
Rwandan immigrant and genocide survivor Immaculee Ilibagiza celebrates after taking the oath of American citizenship at a naturalization ceremony on April 17, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)
"I knew my life was over. I never felt pain in my life as I did that time… I remember thinking, ‘How am I going to die? How does it happen?’" she said.
Ilibagiza said she knew it would be impossible for so many intruders to overlook the bathroom door. Above all, she said she kept asking why one human being wanted to make another suffer.
"I remember asking God, ‘If you can hear me, don’t let the killers open the door today,'" she said.
A view of old Kenyan newspapers that covered the story of Rwandan genocide mastermind Felicien Kabuga at an electronics workshop in Nakuru Town. (Photo by James Wakibia/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Carlson urged viewers to watch the rest of the episode on Fox Nation to hear Ilibagiza's account of how the Rwandan media stoked the flames of division before the genocide took place, as well as how her inspiring story had an even more inspiring outcome.
Carlson labeled the killings the "most horrifying genocide of our age" on Wednesday's "Tucker Carlson Tonight."
To hear the full story behind Immaculee Ilibagiza's escape from genocide, stream the latest episode of "Tucker Carlson Today" on Fox Nation.
