- Hardcover: 336 pages
- Publisher: Dialogue (6 April 2010)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1906447063
- ISBN-13: 978-1906447069
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 15 x 3.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 692,646 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
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Review
Mary Blewitt is one of the heroes of our time. For years she has worked, too often without help, with the survivors of the genocide in Rwanda. She has listened to their stories, brought them practical assistance, and help them rebuild their shattered lives. That takes courage of the highest order. Too often, after humanly inflicted tragedies, we hear the words Never again. They were said after the Holocaust, yet the Rwandan massacre 800,000 people brutally murdered in a mere hundred days happened despite the warnings given before the event. Too often, we ve had reason to recall the words of Martin Luther King, In the end we will remember, not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends. It is all too easy, after events such as these, to think of the victims. It is much harder to think of the survivors and what they need in order to survive. They have lost their families. Their world has been destroyed. In the case of Rwanda, the crisis goes even deeper because so many of those who were not killed were deliberately infected with AIDS. They need our help and help begins with the act of listening to, and empowering them to tell, their stories. This too is deeply difficult. It took fifty years for many of the Holocaust survivors to be able to speak of what had happened, so painful was the memory of trauma and the trauma of memory. Yet the telling is essential, both for the survivors and for us. We need to be reminded of what happened. And they need to speak as part of the healing of memory and mind. This is a book of tears, tragedies and wounds, of lives lost, injuries sustained, and of much work still to be done. I hope it speaks to you, for we are all bound by a covenant of global solidarity, and though we cannot change the past, only by remembering it do we have a chance of changing the future. --Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks
Mary Blewitt is quite a remarkable human being, one of the most remarkable I have ever met. Her work has involved extraordinary personal sacrifice. Those of us who witnessed genocide in Rwanda know that Mary Blewitt stands among the bravest of the brave, the kindest of the kind. --Fergal Keane, BBC Special Correspondent, author and columnist for the Independent
Mary Blewitt is quite a remarkable human being, one of the most remarkable I have ever met. Her work has involved extraordinary personal sacrifice. Those of us who witnessed genocide in Rwanda know that Mary Blewitt stands among the bravest of the brave, the kindest of the kind. --Fergal Keane, BBC Special Correspondent, author and columnist for the Independent
Mary Blewitt is quite a remarkable human being, one of the most remarkable I have ever met. Her work has involved extraordinary personal sacrifice. Those of us who witnessed genocide in Rwanda know that Mary Blewitt stands among the bravest of the brave, the kindest of the kind. --Fergal Keane, BBC Special Correspondent, author and columnist for the Independent
Mary Blewitt is quite a remarkable human being, one of the most remarkable I have ever met. Her work has involved extraordinary personal sacrifice. Those of us who witnessed genocide in Rwanda know that Mary Blewitt stands among the bravest of the brave, the kindest of the kind. --Fergal Keane, BBC Special Correspondent, author and columnist for the Independent
Product Description
Up to a million Rwandan Tutsi were murdered by Hutu militias during the Rwandan genocide on 1994, fifty members of Mary Kayitesi Blewitt s family among them. Seeking sanctuary in her grandfather s village, they were herded by Hutu neighbours into a school classroom to await the Interahamwe militia, who later arrived in trucks, armed with machetes. Mary managed to locate the bodies of her loved ones and lay them to rest. After the killing ended she travelled around the capital, Kigali, witnessed the exhumation of mass graves and struggled to understand the scale of the killings. She recounts standing shoulder to shoulder with the Hutu neighbours who had done nothing to help when the killings began but later helped her bury her family. To try to make sense of what had happened, Mary undertook voluntary work, believing that she had been allowed to survive in order to help others like her. She became a figure of trust with survivors seeking her out to tell their own stories of atrocity and survival. One woman told how she was raped in front of members of her own family who were then murdered. She was allowed to live and told, You alone may live, so that you will die of sadness. This was a common experience for women survivors. You Alone May Live is an important book about grief and survival in the face of unimaginable trauma. It traces the arc of Mary s own extraordinary journey from a childhood in exile in Burundi, Tanzania and Uganda, to trying to come to terms with the loss of her family in the Rwandan genocide, to setting up the Survivors Fund (SURF), a charity providing aid to Rwandan survivors. Poignant, sad and sometimes overwhelming, this book records Mary s story but also encompasses the painful testimonies of those who survived and shared their memories with her.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
An incredible testament,
By Neill Quinton (London, UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: You Alone May Live (Hardcover)
The book is an incredible testament to Mary's work and life so far and - most compellingly of all - places the stories and experiences of genocide survivors at its brutal core throughout and to the every end. It starts off as a conventional enough autobiography of one fascinating woman's personal history but then that tale is put aside, for now, as Mary's dogged conviction to document the stories of others who can't tell their own tale, takes over. The book's legacy is a critical one: to deepen the reader's understanding of survivors' issues in Rwanda (and thus globally) today. On a personal note, having known the author for many years and been the friend at her wedding who messed up on taking any photos, I am compelled to correct Mary's version of this for reasons of factual accuracy... There really was no deliberate forgetting to put a film in the camera on my part. Carelessness at worst, I assure you!
5.0 out of 5 stars
A remarkable book by a remarkable woman,
By
This review is from: You Alone May Live (Hardcover)
A write this review with an experience of knowing and having worked with Mary since 2004. She is a remarkable woman, and personifies how one person truly can make a difference. Survivors Fund (SURF), the organisation that she founded, and with which I now work, is an incredible organisation, a testament to Mary's dedication and commitment to support the survivors of the Rwandan genocide.
The story of Mary, which You Alone May Live chronicles, is also the story of SURF - of her response to the tragedy of losing over 50 members of her family in the genocide. She volunteered and began to provide support to survivors in the immediate aftermath of the genocide in 1994, recognising that she was in a unique position to do so having escaped the atrocities being outside of the country during the 100 days of killing. For fifteen years she worked tirelessly to raise awareness of and funding for the survivors, at times at great personal sacrifice. It is difficult for me to offer an impartial review, as every day working for SURF my respect for Mary grows for all that she achieved, and all the obstacles that she overcame. The book is a honest account of the difficulties of that work, and the challenges still ahead for others - such as myself - that are trying to further her legacy. You Alone May Live is a very personal account. It presents one woman's perspective of a very particular experience, but in that there are mnay universal lessons to be drawn. Certainly those with an interest in Rwanda, the genocide, the situation of survivors, establishing a charity, the refugee experience, will gain a great deal from her writing. Certainly I have. For that I am thankful.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
5.0 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
5.0 out of 5 stars
A remarkable book by a remarkable woman,
By David Russell - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: You Alone May Live (Hardcover)
I write this review with an experience of knowing and having worked with Mary since 2004. She is a remarkable woman, and personifies how one person truly can make a difference. Survivors Fund (SURF), the organisation that she founded, and with which I now work, is an incredible organisation, a testament to Mary's dedication and commitment to support the survivors of the Rwandan genocide.
The story of Mary, which You Alone May Live chronicles, is also the story of SURF - of her response to the tragedy of losing over 50 members of her family in the genocide. She volunteered and began to provide support to survivors in the immediate aftermath of the genocide in 1994, recognising that she was in a unique position to do so having escaped the atrocities being outside of the country during the 100 days of killing. For fifteen years she worked tirelessly to raise awareness of and funding for the survivors, at times at great personal sacrifice. It is difficult for me to offer an impartial review, as every day working for SURF my respect for Mary grows for all that she achieved, and all the obstacles that she overcame. The book is a honest account of the difficulties of that work, and the challenges still ahead for others - such as myself - that are trying to further her legacy. You Alone May Live is a very personal account. It presents one woman's perspective of a very particular experience, but in that there are mnay universal lessons to be drawn. Certainly those with an interest in Rwanda, the genocide, the situation of survivors, establishing a charity, the refugee experience, will gain a great deal from her writing. Certainly I have. For that I am thankful.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Valuable insight into the human cost for survivors of genocide,
By Liam Dempsey - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: You Alone May Live (Hardcover)
Mary Blewitt's book is a moving, thoughtful journey of a single person dedicated to improving the lives of those around her, regardless of the personal cost. The book tells a compelling story of growing up in the poverty of East Central Africa, a move to the UK and, of Mary's return to Rwanda in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide. The well-written prose offers detailed insight into the tremendous human cost of the genocide and how the tragic effects continue to plague survivors today.
You Alone May Live is an important contribution to the understanding of the terrible cost of human slaughter. I highly recommend it! |
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