The Girl Who Smiled Beads: A Story of War and What Comes After

By 2006 Claire has left Rob, whose “abuse had become intolerable” (136). Wamariya works hard through high school and manages her struggles by “shut[ting] out” family (136) and reading Toni Morrison. When she receives word that her brother Pudi has died of meningitis at age 22, Wamariya regrets never having told him how she thought of him the years she was a refugee. She had been afraid to talk to him on the phone because it would be like talking to “a ghost” (137) and therefore did not have a chance to tell him she appreciates how he “tried to help [her] understand a world [she] would never understand” (137).

Three months after their appearance on Oprah Winfrey’s show, Claire goes to Rwanda to visit her parents. While there she visits a genocide museum and sees a movie about forgiveness. Claire, whose “faith is her shield” (138), believes forgiveness is necessary for peace, whereas Wamariya believes forgiving people for committing such horrors is impossible. Though forgiveness is “the missing piece” of her life, it “feels false” (139).

When Claire next returns to Rwanda, she convinces Wamariya, now 19, to ask her boyfriend’s father to pay for tickets to bring their mother to America.