The Running Man

Gilbert Tuhabonye is a survivor. As a high school student in the African nation of Burundi, his dreams were of becoming a champion runner and Olympic athlete. These dreams were cruelly interrupted when the centuries-old battle between the Hutu and the Tutsi tribes found its way to his school.Fuelled by hatred, the Hutus forced more than a hundred Tutsi children and teachers into a small room and used machetes to slash most of them to death. The unfortunate ones who survived were doused with gasoline and set on fire. Gilbert lay under the bodies of his smouldering classmates for an agonising and terrifying eight hoursDuring this terrible ordeal, when almost all hope was lost, there was one thing that gave this remarkable young man the strength to survive - God's voice, which told him he would live through this ordeal. Gilbert was the only survivor of this terrible atrocity and he thanks his enduring faith in God for his survival.Today, Gilbert has re-built his life and is following his dream. He now lives in the USA and is a world-class athlete and running coach, using his survival instincts to spur him on in his goal to qualify for the 2008 Olympic summer games. This gripping and emotional book brings home not only the horror of the events that took place in Africa, but how, even after such trauma, an existence can be rebuilt and forgiveness can transform a life.