If You're Going to Kill Them, You Must Kill Us First

Through courage, wisdom and unshakable faith in God, a peace-maker from Burundi, Central Africa, helped change the course of his nation at a time of horrific ethnic violence between the Hutu and Tutsi ethnic groups in 1993-1994. Prosper Ndabishuriye's story of standing in front of guns to protect his team members is deeply moving and inspiring. A National Director of Campus Crusade for Christ, Prosper and youth he recruited devised an ingenious strategy by forming teams of men from all ethnic groups to help warring Hutu and Tutsi villagers return to their lands, forgive one another and find peace as they were helped to rebuild their homes. Since 1993, Prosper's organization-Youth in Reconstruction of the World in Destruction, or www.jrmd.org) has built over 3,200 homes for Burundians displaced by the war. This story recounts his partnership with author Mike Seymour and their AfricaAmericaExchange educational project connecting American and Burundian youth around themes of peace, compassion and making the world a better place. Prosper's most recent project is a school and orphanage. www.jrmd.org