This is Leah Erdmann with the Sioux City Public Library and you’re listening to Check It Out.
Today, I’m recommending The Girl Who Smiled Beads by Clemantine Wamariya: a poignant and harrowing memoir of survival, displacement, and, ultimately, resilience.
In 1994, when she was just six years old, Clemantine Wamariya’s life was torn apart by the Rwandan genocide, in which over 800,000 Rwandans were killed in a span of 100 days. The author and her older sister, Claire, fled their home and, for the next six years, journeyed across seven African countries. They endured hunger, fear, and uncertainty in their search for safety. This unforgettable saga showcases both the cruelty and kindness of which humans are capable.
After being granted asylum in the United States, the sisters were faced with a new set of challenges. Navigating the complexities of American life, they had to reconcile the trauma of their past and their lost childhoods with the opportunities and responsibilities of their new reality. While Claire struggled to provide for her three small children, Wamariya strived to secure an education while learning the English language and having had almost no formal schooling up to that point.
With honesty and clarity, Warmariya captures the emotional toll that war exacts on individuals, the challenges of immigration and pressures of assimilation, and the complexities of healing from trauma. Now a Yale graduate and internationally renowned author, speaker, and activist, she travels the world and shares her story to enlighten and inspire others. Her journey highlights the resilience of the human spirit and the importance of empathy and understanding in a world shaped by conflict.
Find The Girl Who Smiled Beads at the Sioux City Public Library.
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