Featured Speaker
Sandra Uwiringiyimana, originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo, 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 she escaped. Uwiringiyimana tells her remarkable story in the memoir How Dare the Sun Rise: Memoirs of a War Child. She joins us to share 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.
Since her family’s resettlement to the United States in 2007 through a United Nations refugee program, Uwiringiyimana has fought hard to raise awareness and calls for justice for the Gatumba massacre and other human rights abuses in the region. She is passionate about girls’ education and ending child marriage, and has become a voice for women and girls, refugees and immigrants, and forgotten people like the Banyamulenge Tribe. Now a student at Mercy College in New York City, she is the co-founder and Director of Partnerships & Communications at Jimbere Fund (jimberefund.org). In telling her story, she has shared the world stage with Charlie Rose, Angelina Jolie, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and Tina Brown at the Women in the World Summit. She addressed the United Nations Security Council to plead with world leaders to act on the pressing issue of children in armed conflict.
Sponsored by: HarperCollins Children’s Books
Meeting Type: Auditorium Speaker Series
Sponsors: ALA
Cost: Included with full conference registration.
Open/Close: Open
