Sandra Uwiringiyimana

Sandra  Uwiringiyimana

Sandra is a 2013 graduate of Our Lady of Mercy School for Young Women in Rochester, NY.  Sandra attended TBF as a teen and performed with Mercy's Show Choir at TBF!

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How Dare the Sun Rise

How Dare the Sun Rise
Non-Fiction, 9780062470140
Recommended for teens

This profoundly moving memoir is the remarkable and inspiring true story of Sandra Uwiringyimana, a girl from the Democratic Republic of the Congo who tells the tale of how she survived a massacre, immigrated to America, and overcame her trauma through art and activism. Sandra 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 Sandra escaped. Thus began a new life for her and her surviving family members. With no home and no money, they struggled to stay alive. Eventually, through a United Nations refugee program, they moved to America, only to face yet another ethnic disconnect. Sandra may have crossed an ocean, but there was now a much wider divide she had to overcome. And it started with middle school in New York. In this memoir, Sandra tells 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.

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When we asked our authors what they were or might have been voted in HS, Sandra answered Most Likely to Run for Office.

Other Fun Facts

  • I had a pet monkey as a kid.
  • Mascots freak me out.
  • The beach is my happy place.
  • I'm the youngest of 6.
  • My accent is only apparent when I'm nervous.
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