Hope Runs
By
Claire Diaz-Ortiz and Samuel Ikua Gachagua
“Thank you to the publisher for providing me a copy of this book for my honest review.”
About the Book:
Sammy Ikua Gachagua had lost his father to illness, 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 an orphanage 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. She entered an orphanage 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’sabout 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.
About the Authors:
Claire Diaz-Ortiz was an early employee at Twitter Inc., where she has led social innovation since 2009.
Named one of the 100 Most Creative People in Business by Fast Company, she is the author of several books, including Twitter for Good: Change the World, One Tweet at a Time.
Claire manages Twitter’s social good initiatives, including the Twitter for Nonprofits and Twitter Ads for Good programs. She also works closely with religious leaders and organizations.
Claire has been called everything from “The Woman Who Got the Pope on Twitter” (Wired) and “Twitter’s Pontiff Recruitment Chief” (The Washington Post) to a “Force for Good” (Forbes) and “One of the Most Generous in Social Media” (Fast Company).
She is a frequent international speaker at such diverse conferences as South by Southwest, BlogWorld, Personal Democracy Forum, and United Nations events. She is known for developing the TWEET model — a framework to help organizations and individuals best excel on Twitter.
Claire holds an MBA from Oxford University, where she was a Skoll Foundation Scholar for Social Entrepreneurship. She also holds a B.A. and an M.A. in Anthropology from Stanford University.
She is the co-founder of Hope Runs, a non-profit organization operating in AIDS orphanages in Kenya. Claire also owns Saving Money Media, a five-year old network of websites that help families live better on less, and Do Well Media.
Claire has lived on four continents and traveled to more than fifty countries. She has appeared widely in major television and print news sources, and has an unnatural passion for tiny houses and rooibus tea.
Find her at http://www.ClaireDiazOrtiz.com, via @claire on Twitter or on email at claire@ClaireDiazOrtiz.com
My Review:
A book about an American tourist, a Kenyan boy, and a journey of redemption, Hope Runs is a memoir about the story of Claire Diaz-Ortiz and Samuel Ikua Gachagua (Sammy). Claire and her friend have traveled the world for a year and find their way to Kenya. There they stay at an orphanage and fall in love with the children. Claire and her friend, Lara, decide to start a running program with the children and teach them to run and compete in a marathon. Hope Runs is the non-profit organization started by Claire and Lara. This organization helps these children in a big way.
Sammy became an orphan at a young age and finally seemed to have everything he needed when he was sent to the orphanage. In walks these two white woman, who he thinks is going to be like all the rest and is surprised when they stay for year. Sammy learns so much from Claire and loves to take pictures. Claire helps Sammy to come to a boarding school in Maine and changes his life for the best.
Hope Runs is a wonderful book and highly recommend it to all. I encourage you all to pick up a copy and read this wonderful true story of how these lives were changed forever.
A Greater Yes 