Summary

Part Two, “Gusimbura,” Chapter Fourteen: Burundi, June 2006. As Kidder and Deo journey towards the area of Burundi in which Deo grew up, Kidder is reminded both directly and indirectly that it is more important than ever for him to avoid “gusimbura” - “I heard,” he says, “the more general warning that ‘gusimbura’ implied: that reviving painful memories was worse than inconsiderate” (206). When they finally arrive, they tour various sites remembered by Deo: his first school room (stocked with eucalyptus switches, used for beatings then and now); the place where his friend Clovis became ill; and the field where he might have been buried (Deo cannot remember). He also visits his wary grandmother (the author commenting in narration that he imagined Deo remembering Lanjino) and is confronted by large numbers of relatives, all of whom seem to want money. As he recalls both the pleasures...