A period of bloody Tutsi-Hutu conflict occurred in Burundi following the assassination of the president in October 1993, pushing many refugees over the border into Rwanda. The Rwandan genocide of 1994 pushed many refugees back into Burundi. Some 300,000 people were killed in Burundi. Tracy Kidder’s book Strength in What Remains tells the story of one refugee who managed to escape to America.
Arriving in New York with just $200 in his pocket, almost no understanding of the English language, and no-one to turn to, Deo soon experienced New York-style slum living and homelessness. The book goes on to describe both the acts unspeakable cruelty that Deo had witnessed and fled from in his own country and the enormous daily living difficulties faced by illegal immigrants in the US. Finally, Deo’s lot took a turn for the better as a result of the generosity of others.
The story is encouraging and disturbing at the same time. How is it that people in the West can bury their heads in the sand and ignore it when innocent people in other countries are suffering savage brutality? And closer to home, why do wealthy people tolerate the existence on their very doorsteps of an underclass living in abject poverty? What happens to the majority of homeless people who do not encounter rich benefactors?