Book Review: Forgiveness Makes You Free

Author Fr. Ubald Rugirangoga, was a priest in Rwanda during the Rwanda Genocide of 1994. Understanding that Fr. Ubald is a priest readers must realize there is a religious element to this book and discussions about healing and forgiveness from a Catholic perspective. With that being said, for any reader who is not Catholic or not interested in the religious perspective it is a fascinating story. Fr. Ubald discusses his experiences in the country before the genocide, self doubt he had as a priest (after all, in his words, what kind of a priest was he if his congregation ended up murdering each other), experiences during and after the genocide as well as helping

communities reunite.

The accounts of the genocide in Rwanda from this book were truly disturbing, but then the story of forgiveness was also very moving. To read first hand and second hand accounts of those who survived the genocide, but also those who committed the genocide is an eye opening experience. Its challenging to comprehend the human behavior when you read comments of one person who committed the crimes state "I really miss the people that I killed," or to read about Fr. Ubald's response of hugging the militia man who admitted to killing Fr. Ubald's mother and family. Truly amazing stories of forgiveness and healing from others as well, and a country trying to move past this horrible event that killed over 1,000,000 people in a period of three months.

The book also provides information about the Mushaka Reconciliation Project which requires people who committed acts of genocide to publicly ask for forgiveness, speak with the family of the victims and other strategies to rebuild relationships between citizens within the community.