How Dare the Sun Rise

Sandra’s desire to assimilate caused tension between her and her parents. For instance, she wanted to date but, in her culture, a young couple only courted in the interest of soon marrying. Rachel also wanted her daughter to marry someone from within their tribe. To goad her mother, Sandra claimed she would marry a white man instead.

Sandra also tried to convince her parents to allow her to participate in more activities, like going to friends’ parties and wearing a bikini to the beach. When she asked for an expensive dress to go to a school dance, they balked. Her father wondered why she simply could not invite her friends over to dance in the living room. Prudence and Rachel finally relented, worrying that if Rachel did not go, she might feel excluded. Her mother also bought her a nice blue dress.

Through social media, Sandra began to connect with other refugees who survived the massacre. At their first reunion in St. Louis, she saw “many familiar faces” (144), including two of her best friends at the camp, Inge and Desire. She also recognized a girl named Kama with whom she had shared a tent; Kama’s parents and brother were killed in the massacre. People cried and hugged each other. Then, they all watched news coverage of the morning after the massacre. For the first time, Sandra saw images of dead bodies and limbs laying on the ground, still smoldering from the fire.

Around this time, Sandra began singing with a choir her father formed at their church. The group became so popular that it began performing throughout the Northeast. One day, while preparing to sing in Pennsylvania, Princesse fell ill and was unable to give her speech to introduce the choir. Sandra was asked to fill in. Though nervous, she agreed. Sandra began reading Princesse’s speech, and when she reached the part about the Gatumba massacre, her eyes teared up. Instead of continuing to read, she “spoke from the heart” and detailed her own memories of the massacre (147). She saw members of the audience crying and realized Americans did care about what had happened to her people. Sandra participated in more public speaking at the choir’s performances.

In her junior year of high school, Sandra and her brother, Alex, worked on creating an exhibition of refugee survivors, which was displayed at the Visual Studies Workshop, a gallery in Rochester. Sandra took photos and recorded videos of people narrating their experiences. Doing the project convinced her that she wanted to work as an activist.

Numerous people from the community went to the exhibition. One visitor was Mark Young, a producer of the New York City-based Women in the World Summit. Magazine editor Tina Brown founded the event, which was attended by luminaries such as Hillary Clinton and Angelina Jolie. Young invited Sandra to speak on a panel at the summit, which would include former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Sandra told her parents the exciting news. She also learned that Abigail Pesta, a journalist for the Daily Beast, would be interviewing her.

Sandra attended the event with Princesse while the rest of the family watched the program online. On the day of the summit, the plan changed: Sandra would not speak on the panel but would, instead, be interviewed by Charlie Rose. She spoke to him about growing up in a conflict zone. He complimented her wisdom and then asked her to discuss the portraits from the exhibition, which appeared on a large screen overhead. Finally, he asked her to introduce the next speaker, Angelina Jolie, who hugged Sandra and tearfully thanked her for sharing her story.

The following night, Sandra went alone to the DVF Awards, hosted by Diane von Furstenberg, at the United Nations. On the table of place cards, she found both her name and Oprah Winfrey’s. Shortly thereafter, Sandra saw Oprah walk in, surrounded by an entourage. Someone introduced the two, sharing that Sandra had just spoken at the Women in the World Summit. Sandra met other young activists, including an Afghan girl who had opened an all-female Internet café in her homeland.

On Monday, Sandra returned to school, where people had found out about the summit on Facebook. They swarmed her with comments and questions about her past. Soon, humanitarian groups contacted Sandra, asking her to get involved with them, and her exhibition began traveling to colleges around the state. She also received messages of praise from strangers throughout the world.