Over A Thousand Hills I Walk With You Essay

How would you react if your whole family was ripped away from you in a matter of a month? Jeanne from Rwanda, Africa had experienced exactly that. Over a Thousand Hills, I Walk with You by Hanna Jensen wrote this book for her adoptive daughter, Jeanne, and the memory of her first family. This is her story. She was an average little girl in the Tutsi tribe. Jeanne had a nice home with a mother and father, two siblings, and good friends; everything one could want in life. One morning, Jeanne awoke to the president of Rwanda and several other government officials dead. This was just the beginning; over the next one hundred days, Jeanne and her family go through one of the most cataclysmic events in human history. Jeanne opens up on her life before, during, and after her tragic experience. One afternoon before supper, Jeanne and her sister Catherine, known as Teya, were being given a bath. Jeanne sat still in the tub even though it was torture, and Teya screamed and cried the whole bath. She can be difficult at times. Afterwards, Teya and Jeanne joined the rest of the children to hear her grandmother, Nyogokuru, tell a story. She had a great family. Her mother, named Florence, was stern, yet gentle and had a way with words. Her father was very distant, but she didn’t mind it. Jeanne was happy here. Unfortunately, Nyogokuru died that
“Tomorrow, this will be your graves!” the men would shout through their bullhorns. The Interahamwe dug mass grave and threw hundreds of bodies in at once. Jeanne was terrified and angry. She couldn’t understand why this was happening to her people. Why them? People in the refuges were tired of running and the living conditions started to get unclean. During this, Jeanne came down with a sickness. She became feverish and too weak to stand. Florence tried to take care of her as much as possible. A few days had passed and the sickness fought itself off. They were on the move once