burundi

Presents a comprehensive examination of the events that led to the violence in Burundi in 1972 and 1988, and discusses the political conflicts between the Hutu and the Tutsi peoples.

The author relates his experiences speaking and traveling with an African refugee named Deo, who escaped genocide and earned his doctorate degree in medicine from Columbia Universtity, to Burundi, where Deo built a hospital and reflected on the many deaths in the region.

In 1993 the violence in Rwanda spilled over into Burundi and the centuries-old battle between the Hutu and the Tutsi tribes of Africa came to Gilbert Tuhabonye's school. As a Tutsi he wasn't too worried because his country had always had peaceful relationships between Hutus and Tutsis. All that changed in a single day when the Hutus won the recent election. The Hutus came to his school, forced more than one hundred Tutsi children and teachers into a small room, and slashed and burned what they could. When it was over, Gilbert found himself the sole survivor. Today he lives in Texas and is a world-class athlete, running coach, and celebrity.

The author relates his experiences speaking and traveling with an African refugee named Deo, who escaped genocide and earned his doctorate degree in medicine from Columbia University, to Burundi, where Deo built a hospital and reflected on the many deaths in the region.