Strength in What Remains

Kidder fills in the gaps regarding Deo’s past. Deo enrolls in a Catholic school. The tuition there is about the equivalent of $1 in America, but in Burundi this is a high price. The school is a long, difficult hike from Deo’s compound. One bad aspect of the school is that, inspired by the old colonial ways, the teachers embrace corporal punishment. On the way to school, Deo must pick a eucalyptus branch to present to his teacher in the event that the teacher finds it necessary to whip him that day. Nearly every day, someone the teacher whips a student.

While studying at the school, many of Deo’s fellow students either drop out or die. One of Deo’s best friends, Clovis, is among those who die. Illness suddenly overtakes him while he and Deo are tending calves. The local herbalist tends to Clovis, but he quickly dies. Deo finds himself wondering how the death could be prevented, thus inclining him toward medicine.

Throughout this period, a succession of regimes from the Tutsi-Hima portion of the population rule the country. Deo’s family are Tutsis, but not connected to this elite.

Deo successfully passes on to high school where he encounters the influential Bishop Bernard Bududira. Bududira is concerned with the progress of the nation, including sanitation and the need for technical schools. Inspired during the eleventh grade, Deo attempts to build a clinic, though the effort fails. Deo does not lose hope, though, and is further inspired by his acceptance to a Belgian seminary.

In 1988, Bududira writes a letter warning about how ethnic antagonism has reached a point in Burundi where it is “extremely acute.” As it turns out, a Hutu rebellion follows in the same year, which is met with brutal response by the regime. As Deo has learned in school, the country is about 85% Hutu, and over the past few decades, there has been a pattern of intermittent bloodshed between them and the Tutsi minority. From personal experience, he knows that the alleged differences between Hutus and Tutsis—including height and nose shape—do not hold up.

Deo begins medical school in Bujumbura, where he does quite well. His plan is to finish school and build clinics as he previously attempted. Meanwhile, war unfolds in Rwanda. The Rwandan Patriotic Army, made up of Tutsis previously exiled to Uganda, invades Rwanda. Deo is unaware at the time but in 1991 he sees an alarming document titled the “Hutu Ten Commandments.” The document is issued by a group called PALIPEHUTU—meaning “Liberation of the Hutu People”—and lists a series of anti-Tutsi attitudes and practices. He also notices people saying “Susuruka” (“Warm them up”), and “At the level of the ear” (116). Though he does not know it at the time, these sayings—accompanied by hand gestures—are code for either burning an enemy with gasoline or cutting them with a machete.

In 1993, Burundi attempts to reduce tensions by creating a new government comprising many more Hutus. The president, Melchior Ndadaye, is Hutu. This does not end the rise of hostility, though. The attitude even enters the school, which becomes painfully clear to Deo when a Hutu classmate tells him, “This is your end” (97).

While Chapter 7 leads right up to the outbreak of genocide in Burundi, Chapter 8 significantly advances the American part of Deo’s story. As it turns out, he has been accepted to Columbia. The only downside is that while he was previously a medical student, he is now a mere freshman. Language problems plague his progress, but he is very resistant to suggestions that he temporarily focus on studying English.

In the meantime, he hears good news from Claude: many of Deo’s family members are in fact alive. Two of his brothers are dead. No one mentions Lonjino, which to Deo signifies death. Many other relatives are gone; however, his parents still live. He speaks to his mother, but she refuses to believe that the voice she hears proves he is still alive.

In one sense, his discovery causes Deo to feel conflicted: He feels useless as a student, living off the Wolfs and unable to provide for his family. He feels like he should pursue a more practical degree than his distant medical degree. He also realizes that Sharon lives in poverty, so he refuses to accept more help from her. He compromises with himself by taking on odd jobs for money, which helps him have something to send to his parents. Of course, getting money home is not easy; he gets a job giving tours to Burundian dignitaries who take money back for him so he does not have to risk the mail route.

At school, someone sends Deo an email death threat signed “PALIPEHUTU” (110).  The school cannot track the sender, and Deo pins the printed message to his wall as a reminder to remain strong and vigilant. Despite this resolve, his memories and current fears about violence in Burundi negatively impact his grades.

Kidder notes that after Deo’s graduation, the Wolfs preserved the Black Hole as it existed during Deo’s time there. This includes keeping the death threat on the wall.