Audio book: Hope Runs

I finished listening to an audiobook called Hope Runs.  It is by Claire Diaz-Ortiz and Sammy Ikua Gachagua.  The audio is read by Tavia Gilbert.

About the book:  Sammy Ikua Gachagua had lost his father to AIDS, his mother to abandonment, and his home to poverty. By age ten, he was living in a shack with seven other children and very little food. He entered Tumaini Children's Home seeing it as a miracle with three meals a day, a bed to sleep in, and clothes on his back.

When Claire Diaz-Ortiz arrived in Kenya at the end of an around-the-world journey, she decided to stay the night, climb Mt. Kenya, then head back home to Maine. She entered Tumaini Children's Home seeing it as little more than a free place to spend the night before her mountain trek.

God had other plans.

Hope Runs is the emotional story of an American tourist, a Kenyan orphan, and the day that would change the course of both of their lives forever. It's about what it means to live in the now when the world is falling down around you. It's about what it means to hope for the things you cannot see. Most of all, it's about how God can change your life in the blink of an eye.

My thoughts:

This was an enjoyable book. I thought it was well written and liked how it had the perspectives of both Sammy and Claire.  It made it enjoyable to me for the chapters to go back and forth between them to create their story.   What I got from this story was that one person can make a difference. Claire made a difference in the life of Sammy (and others at the children's home) who in turn has made a difference to many through his volunteer work.  Also, it is a reminder that God has plans for our lives that we can't always see or understand.  Sammy endured great hardship through his young life with the loss of his father and then being abandoned by his mother, yet he goes on to get an education and have a productive life. 

As the book ended I wondered what would be next for these two.     

The narrator, Tavia Gilbert, did a nice job. Her voice was pleasant and easy to listen to. Also, she made changes between the parts that were Sammy and Laura.  The audio ran smoothly.   

This book was provided to me for my review by christianaudio Reviewers Program.