AT A GLANCE

WHAT: Miracle in Rwanda, co-created by Leslie Lewis Sword, who atsr in the one-woman show, and Edward Vilga, who directs. Based on Immaculée Ilibagiza’s book Left to Tell, about her surviving the genocide in Rwanda in 1994.

This is Part 2 in UC Davis' 2011-12 Building a More Inclusive Community campaign.

WHEN:

• Thursday, Nov. 3 — 3 p.m., for students only (free admission)
• Thursday-Friday, Nov. 3-4 — 7 p.m. (tickets required)

WHERE: Vanderhoef Studio Theatre, Mondavi Centet for the Performing Arts

TICKETS: $28 general admission, $14 students for the evening performances. Advance tickets are available online, or in person or by telephone at the Mondavi Center box office, (530) 754-2787 or (866) 754-2787. Box office hours: noon-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday, and one hour before ticketed events. (Free admission to the Nov. 3 matinee for students only.)

UC Davis' 2011-12 Building a More Inclusive Community campaign continues Thursday and Friday (Nov. 3 and 4) with three performances of Miracle in Rwanda, about a woman who survived the 1994 genocide in her country.

Immaculée Ilibagiza’s family had been murdered — among the victims in the genocide that, according to many sources, claimed an estimated 800,000 lives in Rwanda when one ethnic group, the Hutus, set out to eradicate another, the Tutsis.

Hundreds of machete-wielding killers searched relentlessly for Ilibigaza and seven other women who, for 91 days, crammed silently into a hidden extra bathroom in a Hutu pastor's home, according to the Miracle in Rwanda website.

Ultimately, the website continues, Ilibigaza moved beyond intense fear and rage, to find a deeper connection to God than she ever thought possible.

“Often called ‘our generation’s Anne Frank’ — yet one who thankfully survived — the true miracle of Immaculée’s story is her ability to forgive,” the website states. 

Leslie Lewis Sword performs the one-woman show, transforming herself into a host of characters, after having created Miracle in Rwanda with Edward Vilga, who directs. They based the work on Ilibigaza's best-selling Left to Tell: Discovering God
Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust.

Ilibigaza is a real-life messenger of hope, the website states. “The message is one of personal empowerment, of overcoming all obstacles through the power of faith, and ultimately finding peace of mind amidst unbelievable hardship."

Sword and Vilga are on a world tour with Miracle in Rwanda, and are bringing it to UC Davis under sponsorship of the Office of Campus Community Relations and the Kittelson Charitable Foundation, which contributes money, computer equipment and school supplies to underprivileged youth in Rwanda.

Rahim Reed, associate executive vice chancellor who leads the Office of Campus Community Relations, said Miracle in Rwanda speaks to the personal dignity inherent in all human beings. "Genocide takes the lack of respect to the ultimate level," he said.

"We must learn to resolve our differences in a civilized and humane manner."