Hope Made Real: The Story of Mama Arlene and the Children of Urukundo

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"The morning Arlene Brown read in her hometown newspaper about the abandoned children in the aftermath of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, she did what few retirees would ever consider doing. She joined with a mission group to make the long journey to Africa. Her memoir, Hope Made Real, is filled with rich experiences and courageous actions. Her writings reveal that the most important journeys we make can't be measured in miles, but in the strength, wisdom, and love found along the way. Arlene is a deeply revolutionary woman who, in these pages, shares her wild and sometimes frightening adventures. She speaks with refreshing candor, about her own successes and mistakes. This inspiring "eye-opening" book shares all the ups and downs that such a life-changing decision entail. It is soul material, human and tragic, funny and touching, deeply spiritual ... Arlene's move to Rwanda, and what she believed would be her final chapter, was the beginning of a whole new book. With many chapters still to come, now at the age of ninety, her life continues to move in strange and wonderful directions. Saving the world may be out of her purview. But, with courage, tenacity and most of all love, Arlene continues to make a difference in the small undertaking allotted to her. When people ask her if she is a missionary, she tells them, "No". Instead she describes herself as, "a woman with a mission." Mama Arlene's quest to help repair the world happens to be in Muhanga, Rwanda--the home of Urukundo Learning Center."--Amazon