Die Walking

Book excerpt: An unforgettable first-person account of surviving the Rwandan genocide and its aftermath Featuring a foreword by Globe and Mail Africa Bureau Chief Geoffrey York In 1994, Obadiah was the thirteen-year-old son of a Hutu pastor, living comfortably in Rwanda and dreaming of becoming a pilot, when violence and bloodshed began to engulf the country. His family soon fled their home, pursued by soldiers and stalked by death and hunger. As the genocide led into a horrific war, Obadiah was forced to survive unrelenting terror and the darkest despair as a refugee, both in neighbouring Zaire and eventually in the American refugee detention system. Obadiah was sustained through these horrors by his faith and the philosophy of ubuntu — finding one’s self through connection with others. In the spirit of Night by Elie Wiesel, Die Walking is one boy’s horrific story of shared humanity in a chaotic world.