109 pages • 3 hours read
Sandra UwiringiyimanaHow Dare the Sun Rise
Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | YA | Published in 2017A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Key Figures
Sandra Uwiringiyimana
Sandra was born in June 1994 in the Hauts Plateaux mountains in South Kivu, a province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. She is a member of the Banyamulenge tribe and one of six children. Because the Banyamulenge did not share surnames, Sandra’s parents named her after the Rwandan prime minister, Agathe Uwiringiyimana, an influential woman in Rwandan history—which foreshadows the influential woman Sandra would become, through her dedication to activism and providing the Banyamulenge with a voice.
At a young age, Sandra already lived through unspeakable tragedy and loss, in addition to being teased in school for being an “outsider” in her own home country: This was because the situation was more precarious for Sandra’s people, the Banyamulenge, who lived in the Congo but “spoke a language of their native Rwanda” (18). In addition to sounding different, the Banyamulenge looked different; aware of this, they isolated themselves. When Sandra was 10 years old, she and her family fled from their home in Uvira and went to a refugee camp in Burundi, where the Banyamulenge were under siege by Congolese soldiers. Sandra’s younger sister was murdered, and her mother was shot but survived.
Eventually, Sandra and her remaining family moved to America. A new country with a national language that Sandra’s family did not speak, as well as a climate that was snowy and freezing when they arrived, was shocking. Sandra once again struggled to adjust to her new schools, where her classmates made fun of her hair and questioned her racial identity. She tried to change her appearance to fit in and began to resent her parents for her cultural differences. Though she had fond memories from her childhood before the massacre, she felt like an outsider in her own home country, just as she felt alienated in her new home. She enjoyed some relief when she won a scholarship to Our Lady of Mercy, a private Catholic high school in a Rochester suburb. Despite the class differences between her and the other students, as well as being thrust in a predominantly white environment, Sandra thrived.
Her family also joined a new church where her father started a choir comprised of refugees. The choir traveled throughout the Northeast, singing and telling the story of the Banyamulenge. After Sandra’s elder sister, who normally introduced the choir, fell ill, Sandra gave the speech. This opportunity motivated Sandra to return to her roots, accept them, and speak from her heart about her experiences, marking a coming-of-age. In that moment at church, she did not fight against her experiences by trying to be like everyone else to fit in; she gained positive recognition for being herself and telling her own story. This led to the beginning of her public speaking career and her commitment to sharing what happened to her people in the Congo. Her efforts led to her being invited to the Women in the World Summit and other notable events.
Despite the perceived glamour of Sandra’s new life, she still struggled to fit in at school; now, both her race and her new fame set her apart. By the time Sandra reached college, where she encountered more racism and couldn’t resolve her feelings of alienation, the pressure became too much. She left school and went to New York City to find out who she was and what she wanted out of life. The journey led her to her first love, more work in activism, and a decision to start a new life in New York. Though Sandra and her mother became estranged due to Sandra’s choices, they soon reconciled. They got to know each other beyond their prescribed roles as mother and daughter and became acquainted as women.
Rachel Namberwa
Rachel is Sandra’s mother. She was also raised in the Hauts Plateaux mountains. She met her husband, Prudence, on the day of her wedding, as their marriage had been arranged when she was 14 years old. At the time, Rachel had completed five years of school, which was extraordinary for a girl at that time.
After her brother Rumenge’s death, Rachel used $100 that he had given her to start a café in her family home. This venture later led to her selling cows. Both were jobs typically associated with men, and Rachel’s business acumen and courage led Sandra to characterize her as a feminist and trailblazer. Sandra also praises her mother’s talent in songwriting and her eye for fashion.
In the United States, Rachel was initially forced to take menial jobs to support her family, such as working in a factory and cleaning movie theaters. When Sandra attended in college, Rachel gets a job in a nursing home, which helps the family afford a better life in a safer neighborhood. Sandra describes her mother as strong-willed and “determined to rise above the people who [make] her mother feel small” (16-17). During her young adulthood, Sandra clashes with her mother, who does not understand her daughter’s assimilation into American culture and worries about the prospect of her marrying someone who is not from their tribe.
Prudence Munyakuri
Prudence is Sandra’s father. Like his wife, he was raised in the Hauts Plateaux mountains. He married Rachel when he was 18 years old and had just completed high school. Prudence worked various jobs to support his family, including one in customs and immigration at the port.
After arriving in America, he, like Rachel, worked menial jobs. He was then hit by a van, which left him permanently disabled. He became a homemaker and received disability support. In Rochester, Prudence leads a choir at the family’s church, as he had in Rwanda. The choir, called Foundation of Hope Ministries, sent the money they raised from their public performances to children from their tribe in Africa.
Sandra credits her father for instilling feminist values in her. He was different from many men in his tribe because he valued education for girls. Prudence also serves as a foil to Sandra’s mother, expressing more open-mindedness and understanding of his daughter’s unconventional choices.
Deborah Mukobgajana
Deborah is Sandra’s younger sister and Rachel and Prudence’s youngest child. Sandra recalls playing with her younger sister frequently while they were growing up and admiring Deborah’s loyalty and beauty. Deborah had “wonderfully thick, black curly hair” and “big, soulful brown eyes” with “long, thick eyelashes” (24). Sandra compares Deborah’s “calm and thoughtful” personality to that of her father (24).
Deborah was shot in the head and killed when enemy soldiers invaded the refugee camp in Burundi where Sandra and her family were staying. When Sandra was writing the book, she noted that, had Deborah lived, she would have been 18 years old.
Heritage Munyakuri
Heritage is Sandra’s elder brother. As a boy, soldiers took Heritage away from his family and forced him to be a soldier. He and the other kidnapped boys were made to shoot people and were supplied with marijuana and alcohol. Heritage got badly beaten up in Bukavu, leading to his return to his family. Years after moving to America, he became a pastor.
Rocco
Rocco was Sandra’s first serious boyfriend—an Italian American she met on Tinder. Rocco was a source of comfort and support during Sandra’s estrangement from her parents. Two weeks after their first date, Sandra met his family. Though no one else in his family had ever dated anyone who was not white, they embraced Sandra’s presence. He also encouraged Sandra to reconnect with her parents.
After she mends her relationship with her family, Sandra and Rocco drift apart and break up. Sandra realizes they were drawn to each other during a time when they were both lost and needed emotional support that they could not get elsewhere. Through her relationship with Rocco, Sandra learns how to appreciate those who come into her life and love her, while accepting that she must sometimes let these people go. This lesson helps her accept the loss of Deborah, for whom she had been grieving since the day of the massacre.
