THE END OF WHERE WE BEGIN

A journalist chronicles the lives of three South Sudanese refugees.

As a correspondent for Reuters in East Africa, Russell’s on-the-ground coverage of the South Sudanese civil war centered on “the sudden and dramatic exodus” of hundreds of thousands of people across the border into Uganda. Emphasizing human rights issues, the book details life at Ugandan camps, like Bidi Bidi, which, at the time, was the largest refugee settlement in the world. Rather than use a detached geopolitical approach, Russell tells individuals’ stories. The book opens with the disturbing account of a boy who, while hiding, witnessed the slaughter of his entire family (“He listened in silence to the screams of his loved ones and the soldiers’ shouts and laughter”). The author interviewed more than 50 refugees; here she focuses on Veronica, Daniel, and Lilian, whose in-depth descriptions offer “snapshots of a far wider refugee experience.” Russell writes about the traumas endured by each of the book’s main figures, such as the brutal murder of Lilian’s husband, Samuel. The refugees’ pasts may challenge Western stereotypes; for example, prior to fleeing South Sudan, Lilian worked for a grassroots nonprofit and lived a comfortable life with her husband, an engineer. Moreover, most refugees do not want to become European or American citizens but would rather return to a safe South Sudan. The author’s perceptive, often literary writing style also highlights the “rules, restriction and…stagnation” that make life in a refugee camp so difficult. Additional context regarding the political and historical causes of South Sudan’s conflict would be helpful.

A harrowing, intimate examination of civil war’s toll.