This Voice in My Heart
Gilbert Tuhabonye
Co-written with Gary
Brozek
Reviewed by Carianne Carleo-Evangelist
This Voice in My Heart
by Gilbert Tuhabonye (Amistad—May 2006) is a heart wrenching
account of
what one young man, Mr. Tuhabonye, who, at the time, went by his birth
name of
Tuhabonyemana—Child of God—went
through at a time of extreme political upheaval in his homeland of
Burundi.
This book is a must-read for those interested in history as well as
those who
want to know more about what can drive a young man to overcome and not
only
survive, but make a name for himself.
Early on in his story, Mr. Tuhabonye writes, “If you
were to read the history of Burundi in a
schoolbook, it would tell a story very
different from the story of my early years. You would read words like war-torn,
genocide, impoverished and sanctions.
Despite all the violence and unrest that
has plagued the country since it first achieved independence in 1962,
for me,
growing up on its southern hillsides and deep valleys, Burundi was
truly a paradise.” I imagine this
was placed where it was to set the contrast in motion in the reader’s
mind—that
what we get on the news—especially the Western News—is not necessarily
what
people are experiencing, however it had a different effect to me. Burundi,
whether painted in a positive or negative light, hadn’t made much of an
impact
on me. I don’t recall spending more than a few moments glossing over
the
country in history and geography classes so this insider’s look told me
more
than I could ever have expected to know. And though he wrote it as an
adult, we
got the point of view of a young child peering out at the world from
the safety
of his campus and trying to make sense of a world gone seemingly mad.
An idea
that most people born and raised in the relative safety of the USA
cannot even begin to imagine.
The author also focuses on the little things, which serve as
a reminder that material things are not necessary in order to remember
times in
our lives. If you fix something that’s broken there’s a chance that
you’ll lose
the story of why it was broken in the first place. And what’s more
important?
The story of the homeland to pass on to future generations or a perfect
smile?
A smile can always be addressed but a story once gone is lost forever.
Mr.
Tuhabonye’s work with this story is key to making sure the story of the
Burundi
genocide is not lost. A reminder to the West that we must remember if
we’re
going to avoid repeating history.
The story’s pace kept the reader engaged in the story—we
learned some details of the country’s history while at the same time
learned
the small details of the life of a normal teenage boy—a life seriously
interrupted by a snowballing series of events in October 1993.
From his recollections of his early days, how he longed to
follow his older siblings in both their chores and going to school to
the day
when his life changed in seemingly an instant, Mr. Tuhabonye covered it
all
with a voice that seemed more as if he was talking to a few friends
rather than
such a large audience. It all started on a normal day: a young boy
worrying
about exams and thinking about a race—never realizing the next race
he’d be
facing was one to save his own life—to prove he was a true survivor.
I cannot imagine what it must have been like to be in a room
where your classmates and teachers were dying around me. Dying at the
hands of
people I’d lived along side of. I cannot imagine having the foresight
to use a
classmate’s bone to free myself, but Mr. Tuhabonye showed us that he
has what
is needed to succeed.
That drive will take him far, whether it’s to Beijing
in 2008 or to the next location where he speaks of the atrocities he
faced, but
it will help him to succeed in whatever path he pursues.
He’s already shown what he’s made of.