Why I Couldn't Smile

Why I couldn't smile is a story between two friends, living on different sides of the world and grappling with age old questions of Why am I here? What is my purpose? And Why Me?

Written as letters the book was originally communicated between the two friends in the form of WhatsApp messages. Some by text and others by voice notes. Mensiye from his home on the rural outskirts of Kigali, Rwanda and Susan who at the time was in Australia.

Mensiye writes of the upheaval of his life, family and the world as he knew it, when at the age of six genocide broke out in his homeland killing millions. After living through unimaginable brutality Mensiye is then 'discovered' and offered a place in the African Children's Choir where at the age of seven he travels to America to perform in concerts around the country.

Susan who met Mensiye as an adult when she was working in Rwanda, them both sharing a passion for education and empowerment, grapples in responding to many of her friends' letters from her comfortable life in Australia.

Through their tears in writing Why I Couldn't Smile, both Mensiye and Susan came to an understanding of the collective need across the world for healing.

This story is not one where you will find any victims…quite the opposite. Through this story you will find that faith, forgiveness and a knowingness of us all sharing one story we can unite for a more peaceful humanity where all can survive, thrive and prosper.