‘Father, forgive them, they know not what they do’ is the hardest prayer for Christians to put into practice, especially when they are the victims of hatred. This compelling account of how courageous Rwandan women have managed to do so, relying on prayer, fasting, daily readings from Scripture and the kind of mutual charity that we read of in the Acts of the Apostles, also reminds us Europeans of the particular religious genius of Africa and what this continent has to offer our own shrinking Christian world.

This is a hard book to read, but people of faith must read it, especially to learn about the culpability of Christians in the genocide. We must ask ourselves Uwimana’s haunting question, “What if we had been the majority? Would we have killed?” Some might call From Red Earth inspiring, and it is. But as a pastor responsible for forming disciples, I also found it humbling.

While Denise Uwimana shares some of the horrors she and other Tutsi survivors endured during the Rwandan genocide… her main focus is on their journey toward healing. Her stories reveal the trauma, hatred, and desire for revenge that survivors were left with, but also the way they helped each other find new strength. This process of truth-telling and reconciliation has been instrumental in Rwanda’s recovery and healing as a nation, but is also a powerful witness to the possibilities for reconciliation in current situations of devastating violence.

Denise Uwimana speaks for our beautiful country, Rwanda, “land of a thousand hills.” Her story details a people’s struggle for healing and forgiveness in the wake of unimaginable horror. From Red Earth should be read by all people of faith to remind us that hope is stronger than hate.

This moving memoir adds a vivid new piece to the Rwandan mosaic. It is a deeply human story of resilience and rebirth that parallels the story of a nation. More than an account of what happened in Rwanda, it is about the unexpected strength that can lie deep within the human spirit.

Rwandan genocide survivor Denise Uwimana recounts in painful detail the bloody tragedy of her country.… She moves forward to explain how forgiveness has become crucial in her life and the lives of others. Gut-wrenching but undeniably compelling, this is a powerful look at Rwanda, then and now.

In this poignant memoir, Uwimana describes her extraordinary experience of survival during the 1994 Rwandan genocide.… The bulk of the book recounts her efforts to rebuild her life, to learn to forgive her enemies, and to help other women struggling to reconcile in the aftermath. Readers interested in faith-based perspectives will be particularly drawn to this tale of survival and redemption.