About 2,500 people packed into the McDowell Activity Center at the University of Mary on Thursday to hear a genocide survivor.

People sat on the wooden bleachers, without much room to move. Winter coats, scarves, hats and gloves provided a little buffer between seatmates.

Even with all the people, it was a little cool in the building. Junior Jessica Bauman wished she could put on her coat, but it was difficult to move. At other times it might have bothered her. She had a new perspective after listening to Rwanda genocide survivor Immaculee Ilibagiza during prayer day.

"I thought I could wait an hour,"Bauman said.

Students and community members came to see Ilibagiza speak about her experience in Rwanda in 1994. She and seven other women spent 91 days in a 3-by-4-foot bathroom in the house of a Protestant minister. She hid because she was a member of the Tutu tribe. The opposing Hutu tribe massacred nearly 1 million Tutus in 100 days.

Watch video of Ilibagiza speaking at the bottom of this story.

She was a university student preparing for an exam before the massacre began. Her family urged her to come home over Easter break. During break, the president's plane was shot down and he was killed. The people who took over the government started systematically killing the Tutus. Everyone at her university was killed.

Her father wanted her to go into hiding. It was their last conversation. He gave her a rosary. Later, she would find herself saying the rosary 27 times a day.

She discovered the strength of her faith in God while hiding in the bathroom of the minister's house. She learned many lessons on prayer, hope and forgiveness.

The minister's house was searched. While they tore through the house, looking under beds and in suitcases, a battle waged in her head. She kept insisting God would protect her, while a voice that was like the devil kept telling her he did not exist.

"How do you wait for people to kill you?" she asked, by way of explaining her prayers.

In addition to prayers for safety, she recited the Lord's Prayer. The stronger her relation grew with God, the more meaning the words had for her. She asked the minister for a Bible, and read it to learn more about Jesus. No longer was the book simply required reading for church.

Her greatest revelation was that the Bible was filled with stories about love and forgiveness. She was able to dwell on the teachings, and come to reconcile her anger toward the Hutus who were murdering her family, friends and neighbors and find forgiveness.

It wasn't easy. It took time before she could say the Lord's Prayer in its entirety.

"It was hard to say, especially when it meant something." she said. "I came to the line 'Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.' I began skipping that part."

Then she thought on it more. Eventually, she came to the understanding that she couldn't control what they do, and those who were doing the killing did not know what they were doing. She started saying the whole prayer again.

She was released, and found out her mother, father and two brothers were killed. She had a brother who was out of the country at the time of the genocide.

Her story engaged the audience. Many students who attended have spent time in classes learning about the genocide.

"The fact that she forgave them after everything that happened, it makes you think about the things that happen to you," junior Ashley McMillan said.

Bauman, who kept her coat off through the presentation, even though she was cold, though Ilibagiza's story was inspirational.

"That it was just in 100 days and you just watched people be killed is crazy," she said. "It's hard to think about."

In the afternoon, Ilibagiza spoke more on the effects of prayer in her life.

Ilibagiza works for the United Nations helping people overcome the long-term effects of war and genocide. She also has written a book about her experience, "Left to Tell." She and her brother started a foundation in Rwanda.

There is still tension among the Tutus and Hutus in Rwanda, "there will be tension for the next 100 years," she said. There are people with wounds from the massacres.

Some changes have been made. Tutus no longer need to carry government -issued identification cards to tell people that they are a Tutu tribe member. Now Rwandans are starting to identify as one people instead of groups of people, she said.

(Reach reporter Sara Kincaid at 250-8251 or sara.kincaid@;bismarcktribune.com.)