How Dare the Sun Rise: Memoirs of a War Child

So many girls around the world—refugee girls in particular—suffer in silence after being sexually assaulted by someone they know. Most rapes happen at the hands of a relative or friend, not a stranger. I want girls to know that they have the power to speak out. They don’t have to stay quiet. No matter what culture or country you are from, there will always be pressure to remain silent, to never tell. But you don’t have to protect sexual predators. By speaking up, you are standing up for yourself. And you might be preventing it from happening again. Tell people what happened. The predators expect you to stay silent. You can prove them wrong.

I remember thinking: How dare the sun rise, as if it were any other day, after such a gruesome night.

Anyone who thinks it’s easy to get to the States as a refugee has no idea.

I felt so much better when I let my feelings out, instead of trying to keep them bottled up. It's exhausting when you think that you're not entitled to your emotions.

You really have to want to get to America to put yourself through the process. Anyone who thinks it’s easy to get to the States as a refugee has no idea.

I wrote this book because I was tired of outsiders always writing my history, my present, and my future.

There is something incredibly relaxing about Africa to me. Americans are always moving, always going somewhere, even if they have nothing important to do when they get there. In Africa, you’re generally home with your family, telling stories, making fun of one another, laughing.

As long as I am still alive, they have failed. As long as people hear my story, they have failed. As long as I keep fighting, they have failed! This book is a declaration of independence. It is a story of how hatred failed and love and justice prevailed. My hope is that my story serves as inspiration for those who have been harmed by the very institutions that were meant to protect them. There is power in our voices. The more of us speak up, the more likely we are to be heard. Our communities cannot thrive if some of us are made to feel like we do not matter. I hope this book inspires more people to stand up for the voiceless. Don't let your silence be another person's death. Fighting for each other is the only way we all win.

But I have learned that if we have to change the world, we can't harden our hearts and shut ourselves off from other cultures. We must open up our hearts. We must not fall prey to the kind of thinking that separates us. Yes, you can appreciate your history and your culture. You can embrace it. But you can embrace other cultures too. And, yes, you can be angry and seek justice when you are attacked. I want the killers who targeted my people to face justice. But going forward, I don't want to spread the seeds of separation. I want to open myself to people of all races, cultures, and faiths.

Be righteous and faithful when no one is watching.

I decided that the only way my attackers could claim victory over me was if I let fear rule my life.

A person is a person, no matter what. You must do what you can to help people. What you do comes back around to you.

Still, I carried tremendous anger about the massacre and about how Deborah had been taken from me. Our choir group preached forgiveness, but I did not forgive. I could not let my anger go. I thought that the burning pain in my chest was Deborah, and I needed to hold onto that pain in order to hold onto Deborah.

My parents deeply valued education. They had big dreams for their kids, and they knew it all started with school.

You are not to spend your days worrying about tomorrow.

Goodness returns to you. Wrongdoing also returns to you. Chose which one you want, because it will come back to you.

I knew the sounds of war before I knew how to do a cartwheel.

It's okay to express yourself. It doesn't mean you're weak

I want to appreciate people for who they are, not for the color of their skin. I want to live freely, without separating myself from others, without feeling that I need to pick a side, to stick to my own. After all, if people remain divided and closed off from different cultures, it can lead to the kind of extreme thinking that took Deborah's life.

I do not want to be a part of this culture of silence.

If people want to blame me for telling the truth. that's their problem.