Mission Rwanda

Dr. Ann McLannly Global Health, Book 1

By: Therese Zink

Narrated by: Reed Pike

Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

Dr. Ann McLannly blames herself for her niece’s tragic death. And after her mother dies, this young doctor volunteers with an international aid organization for a mission in Rwanda. Pressed into a grueling work schedule with limited facilities, she has little time to adjust. Still, she forges relationships with the remarkable people she meets and finds herself drawn into a relationship with a priest, who introduces her to a Catholic orphanage that needs a physician to care for the growing number of orphans.

It all seems the perfect escape until she finds herself in the middle of the Rwandan genocide where Hutus murder 800,000 Tutsis in a matter of 100 days. As the horrors unfold around her, and her colleagues flee for home, Ann remains in Rwanda to honor her contract and to help her new friends. She is also painfully aware that she is not yet ready to face her family in the US. As Ann struggles to care for her patients under desperate circumstances, she discovers that the priest she has grown so fond of is complicit in the genocide conspiracy.

Cut off from the outside world, Ann and her companions embark on a harrowing journey to a refugee camp in Tanzania, joining the flood of Rwandans frantic to escape the killing. There, Ann is reunited with the blue-eyed surgeon who recruited her. Love blossoms as the conditions within the camp deteriorate. Ann and her colleagues struggle to remain neutral in an increasingly convoluted world as they live with the brutal reality of deciding who lives and who dies. Ann’s outrage grows when they discover that the ethnic conflict continues in the camp. As the threats become personal for Ann, she realizes she must take a side.

Mission Rwanda is a work of fiction but is based on historical facts, as well as Zink’s own experience in the field. Discussion questions are included.

©2014 Therese Zink (P)2018 Therese Zink

Narrator like a child learning to read

if you like tutoring third graders and listening to them read you will love this narration. He stops when he makes a mistake. then he clears his throat and tries again. and again. And again. in between he drones on in a gravely voice that could either be bored or just trying to get ahead of himself. Hardly any inflection and certainly no voicing of characters. The book seems like it's pretty good with vivid characterizations and descriptive language .But I'm not sure because I don't think I could stand another minute of it. And I'm on my way to Rwanda and have a strong interest in the book. I'm going to go see if I can find a hard copy.