Immaculée Ilibagiza is a refugee and survivor of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide who is famous for recounting her harrowing months of survival in her 2006 book, “Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust.” She will speak at an event Monday, Oct. 14, at the Wisconsin Club in Milwaukee. (Submitted photo)
A local nonprofit organization will host an event this month to bring attention to charitable efforts for a struggling village in Rwanda.
Immaculée Ilibagiza is a refugee and survivor of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide who is famous for recounting her harrowing months of survival in her 2006 book, “Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust.” She was raised in a Roman Catholic home and has written five books about her faith. She became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2013.
On Monday, Oct. 14, she will speak at an event hosted by American Friends of Journey House Actions Rwanda, at the Wisconsin Club in Milwaukee to help raise awareness for the nonprofit’s efforts in assisting the rural town of Gashora, Rwanda.
“In her book, she specifically talks about the rosary her father gave to her right before the genocide started and all the prayers she said in hiding,” says AFJHAR board member Julie Steinhafel. “It’s really moving. Her faith sustained her through three months in hiding. She survived the genocide, and 12 years later, went on to write about her experience. We felt it was a great connection to our work, and when we contacted her liaison, they were very excited to speak with our organization.”
Founded in 2021, AFJHAR is a growing Wisconsin-based nonprofit that works with Rwandan native Rogers Kimuli, the executive director of Journey House Actions. The group helps secure American donations to assist with JHA’s efforts in early childhood education, workforce development, agriculture, nutrition and sanitation in the small Rwandan village, helping to deal with the long-term impacts of the genocide and severe poverty.
According to AFJHAR President Greg Herrle, Kimuli’s work deeply inspired the founders of their charity to step in and help.
“Rogers was stationed at Journey House (in Milwaukee) in 2017 as part of a program with the U.S. State Department to place leaders from emerging countries in nonprofit organizations to learn and take back what they learn to their home countries,” Herrle said. “Their mission is to create an inclusive and self-sustaining village. They offer programs similar to those in Journey House and adapted their programming to his culture in Rwanda. We created AFJHAR to support their efforts. Some of us met him while he was here and were very interested in what he was trying to do. We were impressed by his compassion, leadership and devotion to his village and wanted to do something to support him.”
AFJHAR is a secular nonprofit, but many of its leading board members are strong Catholics. Board members Herrle, Steinhafel and Tracy Josetti said their Catholic faith plays a strong role in their volunteer work.
“Given the program and the title of her book, a lot of us are Catholic and went back to our parishes to promote Immaculée’s work, sharing it with our local book clubs and groups,” says Josetti.
The event is not a formal fundraiser or gala but is intended as an awareness event to help bring more attention to AFJHAR’s work. It is not their first event, as Kimuli visited last summer and is expected to visit again in the future.
“We’ve done many things,” says Herrle. “We’ve raised over $2 million through 600 donors. We’ve supported the construction of two early childhood developments that serve 300 preschoolers each. We’ve helped drill two freshwater wells with clean water for villages, which impacts several thousand people. We have a dairy farm with more than 60 cows and a piggery with 200 pigs. We have two dormitories that collectively house 70 homeless young boys and girls, and we’re building a guest house for visitors. This year we started a childhood sponsorship program. We support workforce development to help make the village more self-sustaining and help people out of poverty. We also started another sponsorship program to build or refurbish homes.”
Herrle continues, “We’re pretty excited about this event. It’s a great opportunity to hear Immaculée and her amazing story and faith. There are a lot of lessons to learn from her. We’re grateful she’s willing to come. Her story ties into the stories of many of the people we’re serving in Rwanda. We’re blessed to have her here.”
“An Evening with Immaculée” will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Oct. 14 at the Wisconsin Club, 900 W. Wisconsin Ave., Milwaukee. The event has a capacity of 300, and more than 190 tickets have already been sold. Admission is $45. Tickets can be purchased through AFJHAR’s website: https://afjhar.org/an-evening-with-immaculee/.
