Sandra Uwiringiyimana, author of How Dare the Sun Rise, will be visiting the Wyoming Branch of Kent District Library at 6:30 pm on Monday, March 26. Uwiringiyimana will tell the story of her survival, of finding her place in a new country, of her hope for the future and how she found a way to give voice to her people. A book sale and signing will follow.
“After reading Sandra’s heart-wrenching tale of survival, loss, family, love and ultimately hope, we are reminded of all the beautiful things that make our lives full – family, friends, freedom, safety, home, and the peace of mind this country brings,” said Abby D’Addario, youth librarian at the Wyoming Branch. “Refugees are our neighbors, and an intrinsic part of our lives. And refugees are people with real stories that need to be heard.”
Uwiringiyimana was just ten years old when she found herself with a gun pointed at her head. She had watched as rebels gunned down her mother and six-year-old sister in a refugee camp. Remarkably, the rebel didn’t pull the trigger and Sandra escaped. Thus began a new life for her and her surviving family members. With no home and no money, they struggled to stay alive. Eventually, through a United Nations refugee program, they moved to America, only to face yet another ethnic disconnect. Uwiringiyimana may have crossed an ocean, but there was now a much wider divide she had to overcome.
How Dare the Sun Rise, a profoundly moving memoir, is the remarkable and inspiring true story of a girl from the Democratic Republic of the Congo who tells the tale of how she survived a massacre, immigrated to America and overcame her trauma through art and activism.
This author visit is a part of the Grandville-Wyoming Community Reads 2018 program, which focuses on the challenges for refugees around the world who are seeking safety and a better life. A schedule of upcoming activities, which are open to the public and free, can be found at http://kdl.org/communityreads/.
Community Reads sponsors include Grandville Education Foundation, Friends of the Grandville Library, Grandville Public Schools, Tegna Foundation, Wyoming Community Foundation, Wyoming Public Schools, Godwin Heights Public Schools and Mars Hill Bible Church.
