Prologue: A country of milk and honey -- The beginnings of war -- Maman Clémence -- The old kingdom -- The war at school -- The color of a sound -- Coming to America -- Playing at violence -- By the fire -- The time of stories

"As a little boy, Pacifique Irankunda lived through the thirteen-year civil war in Burundi, the war that upended his home and family, and destroyed Burundi's beautiful culture and traditions. He hid and watched as military units destroyed his village; he and his brother slept in the woods on nights when they heard shooting and violence. From his own memories and those of his family, he tells this story of surviving the devastating ethnic divisions and violence in a country that once had a rich and beautiful culture of belief and traditions, destroyed by the aftermath of a history of colonialism. Paci's extraordinary and wise mother, one of the inspiring beacons of light in this book, led her children and others in ingenious acts of survival and kindness, through her unique ability to bring out the good in people, generosity towards even the soldiers who threatened them, and in her role as a Mushingantahe, an honorary title for a chosen leader in the village"--