Book excerpt: The morning Arlene Brown read in her hometown newspaper about the abandoned children in the aftermath of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, she did what few retirees would ever consider doing. She joined with a mission group to make the long journey to Africa. Her memoir, Hope Made Real, is filled with rich experiences and courageous actions. Her writings reveal that the most important journeys we make can't be measured in miles, but in the strength, wisdom, and love found along the way. Woven throughout the pages, Arlene shares stories from her childhood that help the reader make sense of her life-changing decision. Her years of raising a family of five, working as a practical nurse, volunteering in the prison system, and her many years laboring in a high-tech factory suddenly come together. All of this, and none of this, prepared her for what was ahead. The book draws in the reader as she tells of her escape from an erupting volcano, is smuggled out of the country with the aid of the United States Embassy and runs from angry African bees. Her story reads like a detective novel as she unravels the secrets that lie behind the façade of some of the early players. Hope Made Real is filled with memorable stories of the children whom she touched with her love and from whom she in turn received so much more. Eight pages of pictures illustrate her life from childhood to Founder of Urukundo Foundation and Executive Director the Urukundo Learning Center, Muhanga, Rwanda -- its primary school of over nine-hundred children, the Sewing Center to train seamstresses and tailors, as well as the Dental Clinic, farm and so much more.