Top 33 Clemantine Wamariya Quotes

I was the most tired 11-year-old in the world.

If we believe that a person seeking refuge is to be pitied, feared, despised, and looked down upon, we are doing ourselves a disservice.

Always strive to be a better you for you and for other.

When you receive an education, you pass it on.

Safety should be a birthright.

The tradition of Umuganda is a beautiful and inspiring one. It connects people to their surrounds and creates a responsible community.

We cannot afford to lose any more people as a result of hatred.

Sharing is wonderful, but giving – I give, you take – often maintains the power status quo.

From age six to 12, I lived in seven different countries, moving from one refugee camp to another, hoping we would be wanted.

Being able to connect with other humans is something I’ve done since I was little.

If you want to learn about the history of a people, eat their food and drink their beverages.

I want to listen to people’s stories and find strength in them. There is so much human-caused pain and suffering in the world. I want to honor all those difficult experiences and acknowledge their aftermath. At the same time, I want to really see and love the world around me.

I don’t think in a linear form.

I am thankful to those who’ve listened to my story over and over as well as those who’ve helped me share it. For me, the act of storytelling is an act of healing.

The world is part of us, and we are part of the world. Even through the smallest acts, we can demonstrate that. I believe in the human spirit, in the kindness in all of us, and I am hopeful for this world.

‘Night’ may be one of the most important books that people can read today. It is a story of how hate can slowly take over a society. It shows what happens when people are dehumanized.

Children tell the truth.

All that I have achieved has been possible not only because of my own strength and perseverance, gained through hardship, but also through other people’s support and belief in me.

There are a lot of great people everywhere. And there are also a lot of not so great people.

My formal speaking career began before a group of 10 third-graders. We drew pictures of my home in Rwanda. I told them about my mother’s huge garden and our mango tree. The lessons I taught were simple. Play nicely. Take care of plants. Take care of people.

I think, when you survive any intense experience, people try to moralize you; a lot of people just try to raise you high, and it’s so not fair to you and to everybody else.

Being kind to myself helped me deal with people who thought less of me and thought they were better than me.

The idea of somebody suffering is really painful to every human. In our collective language, we all too often see those who are suffering as a victim to be pitied, to be feared, and even sometimes to be despised. I want to redirect that narrative.

Set goals but be flexible.

There are millions of people, refugees, who have experienced the same conflicts and struggles I did. They have the same potential to defy the odds and achieve great things.

It has taken me so many years to finally be in my bed and fall asleep for six hours.

I want people to know that they are the masters, the queens, kings, and gods of their own story.

I want to tap into everyone’s senses, to touch on our human sensibility.

I’m not a victim – I’m a survivor of hunger, of hate, of different injustices that humans are facing today.

I’m still coping with my trauma, but coping by trying to find different ways to heal it rather than hide it.

I was six years old when the conflict started in Rwanda.

Growing up in Kigali, the capital city of Rwanda, I had a wonderful life, one that I have not experienced anywhere since, even after living in nine countries.

In 2006, after 12 years being separated away from my family and then seven years knowing that they were dead and them thinking that we were dead, we reunited… in the most dramatic, American way possible. Live, on television.