Confiance Igiraneza

Forgiving the Unforgivable: Rwandan Genocide Survivor Finds Path to Forgiveness and Joy in Scripture

Confiance Igiraneza (’20 & ’21) has lived a life full of upheaval and tribulation, and many have almost brought him down. However, through Scripture, Confiance has learned to forgive the unforgivable and now knows God is indeed close to the brokenhearted.

At just 3 years old, Confiance was already alone. In 1994 during the Rwandan genocide, the Hutu militia went on a rampage against the Tutsi minority ethnic group and killed up to 1 million people in 100 days. During this massacre, Confiance lost his parents, aunts, uncles and siblings who had come to Rwanda to visit his grandparents, who were also victims of these heinous acts.

At that time, Confiance was in a hospital where his mother, a gynecologist, treated patients. The Hutus came in shouting, killing everyone present. Not wanting to spend any more bullets on the little boy, the militants threw Confiance into a pile of dead bodies in the hopes he would die of asphyxia.

How he is alive today can only be described as a miracle. “Only by the mercy of God … one of the nurses who had been assisting my mother found me alive under the bodies, rescued me and took me to live with her,” Confiance shares.

Growing up, Confiance excelled in his studies in high school, but things were difficult when he had to share a classroom with the descendants of those who were responsible for the deaths of his family members. “[The Hutus’] kids, they are your neighbors, your classmates, they are your friends at school,” he says.

Scripture, however, taught Confiance about a God who makes a way for healing. “I bought my first Bible when I was in high school [and] I was not happy with Jesus,” Confiance remembers. “[I was] saying, ‘Why did [God] allow my parents to die?’” But in spite of his doubts, Confiance discovered that the Jesus of the Bible was much different than he thought.

“It was very interesting!” Confiance says. “That’s how I fought with the Bible.” Since that illuminating moment, Confiance has reminded himself: “This Bible is going to be my mother, my father and my siblings.” Today he proudly owns an outstanding “family” of Bibles. Even now, he never tires of the greatness of God found within their pages.

“That’s how I fell in love with the Bible,” Confiance says. “It’s given me a sense of life again. It brought me so much joy.” And with that joy came forgiveness. When his classmates would approach Confiance about his past, he would say, “I have forgiven you even before you ask for forgiveness.”

When the time came to choose a university, Confiance watched many of his classmates head to South Africa, but he chose to go north, where LBC | Capital courses in Uganda were waiting. “When I joined LBC—oh, my goodness, wonderful professors!” he says. “That’s what attracted me to keep trying to pursue my master’s.”

With two bachelors degrees on his résumé, Confiance’s next goal is to pursue his master’s degree in Nonprofit Management at LBC | Capital in order to help women business owners succeed within the Rwandan marketplace. “I want to serve the women in my community who are struggling to start their small businesses,” he says. “[I want to] be able to use my skills … to turn their small businesses into profitable businesses.”

Confiance’s life story is a testament that forgiving what seems unforgivable is indeed possible—by looking to God’s Word for healing and hope that can only be provided by His power and endless love.

(This story originally appeared in the Winter 2024 ECHO Magazine. Read our special “90 Faces” issues here.)