This week, The Extraordinary Times blog caught up with activist, philanthropist, and author Sandra Uwiringiyimana (oo-Wee-Ring-yee-ma-na). Sandra is a co-founder at Jimbere Fund, an organization that aims to revitalize distressed communities and foster peace in Congo by empowering women economically. Sandra was born and raised in Congo, until she was forced to flee due to the ongoing conflicts in 2004. Shortly after fleeing her home, Sandra survived a massacre that claimed 166 lives, including her sister’s. Since her family’s resettlement to New York in 2007, Sandra has fought hard to raise awareness about the Gatumba massacre and call for justice. She has become a voice for women and girls, refugees and immigrants, and forgotten people like her Tribe. Sandra now works to ensure that no Congolese girl ever has to leave home in search of opportunity through the Jimbere Fund. She continues to use her platform to advocate for migrants and refugees all over the world. Sandra’s memoir How Dare the Sun Rise, (Harper Collins) is out now.
Sandra Uwiringiyimana will be talking at 7pm this Thursday, October 27 at Miami University Hamilton campus’s Harry T. Wilks Conference Center: http://miamioh.edu/regionals/rsvp. * Despite having survived horrible trauma, you describe your childhood as a mostly happy time of life. What are your fondest memories of growing up in Africa? My fondest memories of growing up in Congo are celebrating holidays with my family. Christmas and New Year were a time of celebration; during this season, my parents would indulge us in new clothes and favorite foods, like chocolate and meats- things we only ate on special occasions. My mother and aunts would make a lot of food, and my extended family, friends, and neighbors would join us in a day filled with food bellies, music, dancing, and laughter. * What were your first impressions of The United States, after you arrived in Rochester NY as a young refugee? Growing up, I thought America was a paradise; "land of milk and honey," they would say. I thought America was a utopia where hunger and violence were unheard of and peace and prosperity were abundant. It felt like a completely different world from the one I was living in. However, resettling to America as a young refugee came with many challenges, like language barriers, cultural differences, and even adjusting to the brutal cold. There were also some unexpected challenges, like racism and the systematic oppression of black people. Despite these challenges, my overall impression of America was that it was normal. Once I got past the surface-level dissimilarities, I found that Life in America is like it was back home. People in America also struggle with poverty, illnesses, and conflicts, and they long to feel accepted in society. America is not a magical place like I always visualized it would be; it's just a different place on the same earth. * How would you compare your education in Africa compared to America? There's simply no comparing my education in Congo to the one I received in America; it would be unfair and ridiculous to compare the two. First, There's no public school system in Congo. That means every school was privately-owned, and every student had to pay tuition to attend- a fact that made it nearly impossible for most of the kids to attend school. At school, most kids only had one notebook for all of their classes and had to take handwritten notes on everything due to a lack of access to textbooks. At home, we would have to study for exams before it was dark out because many households didn't have electricity. My mother used to stay awake with us during exams to ensure that our lamps wouldn't run out of petrol before we finished studying- something I think is hard for the average American child to comprehend. Of course, the American education system is not perfect, but it is a privilege that we shouldn't take for granted. * What role has art played in processing your trauma and advocating for other survivors? Art has always been a big part of my life. From a young age, I enjoyed reciting poems, dancing, and expressing myself creatively, so naturally, it played a vital role in my healing. I started advocacy because I was tired of feeling like people who looked like me didn't matter in the world; I had no idea at the time that I was using art to heal because I didn't know I was sick. It was through advocating for myself and my people that started to realize just how much I had been traumatized by my experiences. I always say that art and activism saved me. Art gave me strength, and activism gave me purpose. * Can you tell readers a little bit about your current advocacy and future projects? In 2016 I launched the Jimbere Fund, a grassroots organization that is on a mission to mobilize, prepare, finance, and launch women-led enterprises in rural communities of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Our goal is to revitalize communities and lift people out of poverty by creating jobs and stimulating local economies. I currently sit on the board of directors at Refuge Point, an organization that advances lasting solutions for at-risk refugees and supports the humanitarian community to do the same. I am still passionately advocating for Justice for the Gatumba massacre. It has been 18 years of waiting for justice, and the survivors will not rest until that happens.
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AuthorMatthew Smith, PhD (History). Public Programs at Miami University Regionals. Historian of Appalachia, the Ohio Valley, & the early American republic. Archives
February 2024
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