Gilbert Tuhabonye

Gilbert Tuhabonye's personal story is as harrowing as it is inspirational. A native of Burundi, a country in east central Africa, he began running competitively while a boarding student at Kibimba Protestant school. A member of the Tutsi tribe, Gilbert became a national champion in the 400- and 800-meter races when he was a high school junior. As a senior, he was an extraordinary runner whose goal was to get a scholarship to an American school, get an education, and return to Burundi. Tribal war and atrocities intervened, changing his life forever. On Oct. 21, 1993, the centuries-old conflict between the Tutsi and Hutu tribes erupted in a massacre while Gilbert and his peers were in class at Kibimba. Hutu classmates and parents, several teachers, and other Hutu tribesmen forced more than 100 Tutsi into a schoolroom, where they were beaten and set on fire. All of the young victims perished in the conflagration, excepting Gilbert, who spent nine hours buried beneath the corpses of his friends and classmates. Badly burned, he used a charred bone from the pile of remains to break a window. He jumped free of the burning building and ran into the night on wounded feet. He had survived one of the worst massacres in the long Tutsi-Hutu war. Tuhabonye ran from horror into a new life in the United States. He went on to graduate from Abilene Christian University, where he became a national champion runner -- despite the scars from his extensive burns. A dozen years later, and more than 8,000 miles from Burundi, Tuhabonye is a star and popular coach in running circles. He lives in Austin with his wife, Triphine, and daughter Emma.