I read the book from start to finish in one sitting. I could not put it down. It made me laugh and it made me cry. Hyppo is an extraordinary young man who has endured tremendous tragedy - and yet has found the will to forgive those who murdered his family. Goodness radiates from him - and he attracts kind and generous people like a magnet. Everyone who reads this book will be inspired with hope for the future - and will want to help others.
Emma Sky OBE, Director, Yale World Fellows, Senior Fellow, Yale's Jackson Institute for Global Affairs
A Boy Called Hyppo is a testament to resilience in the face of severe challenges. Hyppolite Ntigurirwa begins with his unforgettable experiences as a young boy forced to endure the unimaginable horrors of the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda and its immediate aftermath. He describes his journey from a state of destitute poverty in a post-genocide displacement camp to the club-like halls of European and American universities, as well as the inspiring combination of force-of-will and generosity of strangers that fuelled it. Finally, he recounts improbable and astonishing transformation from a state of vengeance and despair to his growth into an agent of compassion and reconciliation. He delivers it all with a sense of humor, wonderment, and humanity that is sure to be an inspiration to any who reads it.
David Simon: Director of Genocide Studies Program. Director of Graduate Studies, African Studies Advisory Board member, Yale University
In A Boy Called Hyppo Ntigurirwa undertakes a lucid, compelling and evocative journey into his past that will send shivers down your spine. That all trace of humanity vanished among the perpetrators of the genocide that targeted the Tutsi in Rwanda is indisputable. But it is also indisputable that the catastrophe that Ntigurirwa witnessed as a little boy did not destroy the strength of the human heart. With quiet elegance he shows with his example and in his encounters with others, how humanity triumphs over hate.
Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, author of A Human Being Died that Night: A South African Story of Forgiveness
I have relayed this story to everyone I know - read it and meet a young leader who stands alongside Greta and Malala for courage, humanity and the ability to overcome tragedy and raise the human spirit. You will remember his name: Hyppolite.
Kate Robertson, Co-founder of One Young World