We Are Displaced

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | YA | Published in 2018

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1, Chapters 1-3

Part 1, Chapters 4-6

Part 2, Introduction and Chapters 7-9

Part 2, Chapters 10-12

Part 2, Chapters 13-15

Part 2, Chapter 16-Epilogue

Key Figures

Themes

Index of Terms

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Part 2, Chapters 13-15Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 2: “We Are Displaced”

Chapter 13 Summary: “Analisa: Lucky”

Analisa grew up in poverty in Mazatenango, Guatemala. Her early childhood was spent with her mother and sisters in a one-room house. She rarely saw her mother because she worked long hours selling flowers at the marketplace and was instead raised by her older half-sisters. When her mother passed away, she went to live with her father, who was concerned that her siblings and their father would not provide good care for Analisa. While her father could be strict, he was also a “playful and loving” dad (Location 916). Analisa remembers that her father encouraged her to do her homework at his sewing store after school and took her to church and on motorcycle rides. When Analisa was still a teenager, her father died after falling down the stairs. Her half-brother Oscar came to live with the family, and quickly became controlling and abusive towards Analisa. At this time another half-brother, Ernesto, reached out to Analisa and extended an invitation to live with him in the United States. After praying for rain as a sign from God, Analisa made up her mind on a rainy Saturday to make the journey to the US.

Analisa recalls feeling great sadness saying goodbye to her friends and to her stepmother, who was very ill. She boarded a bus to the border city Peten, and after spending a night in a “secret house” with other displaced people, she boarded a raft to cross the river into Mexico. The boat ride was a terrifying one; there were crocodiles in the water as well as hazardous rocks and whirlpools. Once on the Mexican side of the river, Analisa joined other immigrants in a truck, and walked through the night to a house that was under construction, where they rested. Analisa describes the next van ride as “chaos” since over a hundred people had to clamor onto a moving van and she traveled “pressed up against all these total strangers” for two days (Location 964). While Analisa thought she would reach the US within a week, she had to stay in a Mexican town for an entire month as immigration officials investigated a truck crash which had killed dozens of immigrants. She knew that if she was discovered, she would be arrested and deported to Mexico.

Finally, Analisa traveled to the border with Texas, where she crossed another river on a raft. She was told to leave all her belongings behind and run the moment she reached the shore. At this time, she questioned her decision to leave Guatemala, fearing that she would be detained before she could cross the US border. After two hours of running with other immigrants, Analisa was captured by the US police and taken to a “gigantic warehouse”, which Spanish-speaking immigrants referred to as the hielera or “ice box” since it was so cold (Location 981). Only one of the workers at the facility spoke Spanish, and he berated them for coming to the US. She was allowed to contact her half-brother Ernesto and was transferred to a facility the immigrants called the perrera, which means “dog pound”, since it looked and felt like a dog kennel (Location 981).

She was placed in the same cage as other girls, with whom she bonded. Analisa reports that girls and boys were kept separately at this facility, and that with the windowless rooms and bright lights, she could not tell how many days passed. Eventually, she was transferred to a children’s shelter that was organized by the Office of Refugee Resettlement, where she had a bed and bathroom, and participated in English classes and movie nights. After six weeks at this shelter, she was released to live with her brother Ernesto. Analisa, whose Adventist faith had been a source of comfort to her during her journey, was happy to see that another prayer of hers had been answered, as there was an Adventist church behind her brother’s home.

Chapter 14 Summary: “Marie Claire: A New Beginning”

Marie Claire’s mother was always supportive of her goals and told her to stay in school and “follow your dreams” despite being bullied (Location 1032). She left her home country of the Congo when she was very little due to militias that terrorized civilians throughout the country. Her family’s four-year journey to neighboring Zambia meant that Marie Claire’s earliest memories are of living on the run and hiding from wild animals and militia groups. Once they arrived in Zambia, Marie Claire felt unwelcome at school, as the other students bullied her for being from the Congo, as did their neighbors in town. Marie Claire did not speak the local language, but understood that people disliked her family because they were from the Congo. It took her two years to complete third grade, and she often became discouraged. Marie Claire remembers that her mother would not let her skip school because of the bullying, and instead encouraged her to “Ignore them and focus on what you want” (Location 1061).

At this time Marie Claire’s family moved to Lusaka, Zambia, and began the process of applying for visas abroad through the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees). Their lives were again in danger due to local mobs who robbed Marie Claire’s mother and told her father to leave town, or he would be murdered. Marie Claire reports that these “masked men” robbed and threatened refugee families due to xenophobia and resented that her Congolese family was now making a more comfortable living (Location 1072). This mob came to her home and murdered her mother and attempted to murder her father in front of Marie Claire and her siblings.

As undocumented immigrants in Zambia, the family had “no rights” and could not follow up with the police investigation, which ended with no charges laid. Her father survived being stabbed in the head and Marie Claire dropped out of school to take care of him. She remembers how her mother sacrificed herself to keep her children safe, and writes that “They took my mother, but not her love. I still have that, and it keeps me strong” (Location 1084). After a year off from school, Marie Claire returned with a renewed sense of motivation; education had been so important to her mother. Marie Claire underwent multiple interviews for the visa process with the UNHCR, and finally learned that her family was approved. She soon learned that she and her family would be resettling in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, which is dubbed the “refugee capital” of the US (Location 1095).

When Marie Claire and her family arrived in the US they were greeted by Jennifer, who Marie Claire says has since become part of her “American family” (Location 1100). Although Marie Claire was 19 and technically too old to attend the local high school, she convinced the admissions counselor to allow her to go. She had just five months to complete her courses and graduate, and she did, becoming the first person in her family to graduate from high school. Marie Claire remembers feeling her mother “smiling down from above” at her ceremony (Location 1112).

Chapter 15 Summary: “Jennifer: I Needed to Do Something”

Jennifer, the American woman who helped Marie Claire and her family settle into their home in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, pens this chapter. After reading about the death of Alan Kurdi, the Syrian refugee toddler who died at sea on his way to Greece, she felt compelled to do something to help refugees in crisis. Jennifer became a volunteer with the Church World Service resettlement program, and met Marie Claire and her family for the first time the following month. Jennifer took Marie Claire and her 13 family members to their new home, which was in a low-income neighborhood in Lancaster. While she felt worried about the state of the home, they were thrilled with the house and the novelty of having a stove, fridge, bathtub, and electricity.

Jennifer describes how Marie Claire, though shy at first, was extremely determined and focused on her education. Jennifer feels Marie Claire will go far in life because she “manifests realities for herself” (Location 1181). Jennifer also shares that while Marie Claire has already achieved so much in the US, she and her siblings continue to experience immense grief due to the loss of their mother.

Jennifer recounts how Marie Claire was invited to speak for the UN and shared her family’s story in front of global leaders such as Yousafzai and French president Emmanuel Macron. Marie Claire went on to major in nursing at college and dreams of returning to Zambia to improve other refugees’ lives. Jennifer feels immensely proud to be Marie Claire’s “American mom” and knows that Marie Claire will go on to have a “real impact on the world” (Location 1208).

Part 2, Chapters 13-15 Analysis

Analisa’s chapter, “Lucky”, provides another example of how people navigate migrant routes and legal systems with little resources. Like Sabreen, Analisa also chose to hire guides and smugglers to help her across the border and was at times overwhelmed by the dangers around her. Analisa’s journey from Guatemala to the US is one that thousands of people make each year to escape violence and poverty in Central America. Her first-hand account helps the reader understand the many dangers that these immigrants face. She crossed crocodile-infested rivers, endured days-long truck rides with dozens of other people, and was captured by the US police who detained her in their facilities. She recalls conversing with other immigrants she met there, who also survived dangerous conditions to make the border crossing. Analisa describes the death of one immigrant’s friend who died of blood loss after she was injured jumping on a moving train. Analisa writes, “She was still so traumatized by the experience, and I understood why: It was not the first time on my journey when I felt lucky to be alive” (Location 997).

Marie Claire’s chapter “A New Beginning” revisits the theme of girls’ education, as she explains that her mother always encouraged her to focus on school and told her that her education would be the key to fulfilling her dreams. Marie Claire explains that she had to overcome xenophobia and bullying at her school in Zambia, where other children excluded her for being foreign. She later also had to advocate for herself in the US, where her new school was doubtful that she could graduate with her diploma. However, Marie Claire was determined to finish high school, and her descriptions of her momentous ceremony show how important her academic success was to her and her family. She writes, “Six hundred people graduated that day, but I felt that I stood out, in a good way. I have pictures of my family carrying me on their shoulders through the crowds, their faces filled with joy. My father was smiling so hard his eyes were closed” (Location 1112). Jennifer’s testimony reinforces this theme, as she describes how Marie Claire was “laser focused on her education and spent all her spare time studying and going to her English tutor” (Location 1181).