Hope Runs: An American Tourist, a Kenyan Boy, a Journey of Redemption
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 Mount 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.
Hope Runs is the 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”.
About the authors
Claire Diaz-Ortiz leads social innovation at Twitter, Inc., and is the author of several books. She is a frequent international speaker on social media, business, and innovation and is cofounder of Hope Runs, a non-profit organisation operating in AIDS orphanages in Kenya.
Sammy Ikua Gachagua was born in rural Kenya in 1992. After losing his family at a young age, he struggled to survive until he was placed in Tumaini Children’s Home in Nyeri, Kenya. In 2009 he received a scholarship to Maine Central Institute, granting him a US visa and an education under the guardianship of Claire Diaz-Ortiz. He is now serving in the developing world as a fellow for Global Citizen Year.
