Home and Culture

Sandra Uwiringiyimana is a member of the Banyamulenge tribe from Africa. The tribe has a long history of moving from place to place with no state to call their own. However, they are also a tribe with deeply ingrained ideas and beliefs. Even in current times, many of the Banyamulenge people live in refugee camps with no place to really call home. Sandra wrote about home and culture, including the physical location where she and her family lived throughout most of her childhood, the attitudes of her people, and how she and her parents changed after arriving in America.

Early in the novel, Sandra wrote that the people of the Banyamulenge tribe are considered stateless, and that “many of my people today are languishing in refugee camps, belonging to no country, always in limbo” (17). That feeling of being “in limbo” is because these people do not...