Just finished Tracey Kidder's latest, Strength in What Remains. I highly recommend it. It is the story of a refugee from Burundi's 1994 ethnic civil war who comes to New York City as an illegal immigrant.
Quick facts about Burundi: Burundi is a small country located in central Africa, just south of Rwanda. Burundi has a population roughly equal to that of New Jersey, and an area is a little larger. Like Rwanda, its recent history has been dominated by conflict between the Hutu majority and Tutsi minority. The CIA estimates that Burundi's per capita GDP was $400 (in PPP terms) in 2008; the third lowest in the world after DR Congo and Zimbabwe. In comparison, U.S. per capita GDP is about $47,000. Burundi's real GDP per capita is growing more slowly than U.S. real GDP per capita. That means that if current growth rates continue, Burundi will never catch up to U.S. standard of living; rather, the gap between the two countries will grow wider and wider.
Quick facts about Burundi: Burundi is a small country located in central Africa, just south of Rwanda. Burundi has a population roughly equal to that of New Jersey, and an area is a little larger. Like Rwanda, its recent history has been dominated by conflict between the Hutu majority and Tutsi minority. The CIA estimates that Burundi's per capita GDP was $400 (in PPP terms) in 2008; the third lowest in the world after DR Congo and Zimbabwe. In comparison, U.S. per capita GDP is about $47,000. Burundi's real GDP per capita is growing more slowly than U.S. real GDP per capita. That means that if current growth rates continue, Burundi will never catch up to U.S. standard of living; rather, the gap between the two countries will grow wider and wider.
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