A Thousand Hills to Heaven, Josh Ruxin
A Thousand Hills to Heaven, Josh Ruxin
1 Rating(s)
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A Thousand Hills to Heaven

Author: Josh Ruxin

Narrator: Will Collyer

Unabridged: 8 hr 24 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/05/2013

Includes: Bonus Material Bonus Material Included


Synopsis

One couple's inspiring memoir of healing a Rwandan village, raising a family near the old killing fields, and building a restaurant named Heaven.

Newlyweds Josh and Alissa were at a party and received a challenge that shook them to the core: do you think you can really make a difference? Especially in a place like Rwanda, where the scars of genocide linger and poverty is rampant?

While Josh worked hard bringing food and health care to the country's rural villages, Alissa was determined to put their foodie expertise to work. The couple opened Heaven, a gourmet restaurant overlooking Kigali, which became an instant success. Remarkably, they found that between helping youth marry their own local ingredients with gourmet recipes (and mix up "the best guacamole in Africa") and teaching them how to help themselves, they created much-needed jobs while showing that genocide's survivors really could work together.

While first a memoir of love, adventure, and family, A Thousand Hills to Heaven also provides a remarkable view of how, through health, jobs, and economic growth, our foreign aid programs can be quickly remodeled and work to end poverty worldwide.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Ra on August 01, 2017

I really wanted to like this book. It was recommended by one of my favourite book blogs and I love Africa and people who do good there. The author makes some good points about how to do development in Africa without creating dependence. His style, however, irritated me somewhat. I perceived him as an......more

Goodreads review by Tom on November 07, 2013

A love story and adventure of two people written in such a way that I could not stop reading. It was amazing that Josh Ruxin decided to move lock stock and barrel to Rwanda to help a society in transition after the horrible genocide which took place in the early 90's. He explains how he changed the......more

Goodreads review by Jill on November 03, 2013

As indicated in the Preface, this is not a book about the Rwandan genocide, nor about politics or the local economy. It's about the life that a young couple is building in Rwanda, and their contribution to the end of poverty there. Josh Ruxin, highly educated at Ivy League schools and a self-describ......more

Goodreads review by Jz on December 25, 2013

Josh Ruxin tells the story of rousing himself from a comfortable life as a successful Manhattan-based development consultant, to the front lines of poverty in equatorial Africa as Rwanda has grappled with the legacy of genocide. He shares both the conflicts and triumphs he encounters with others and......more

Goodreads review by Ivan on April 29, 2016

FIRST LINE REVIEW: "Our plane drifts up over the Atlantic at dusk." I have read at least 10 books about Rwanda and its recent history. This one was, by far, my favorite! Maybe that's because I'll also be drifting "over the Atlantic" in a few weeks to land in Rwanda, but it's also because I found Jos......more