Those We Throw Away Are Diamonds

A Refugee's Search for Home

By: Mondiant Dogon, Jenna Krajeski

Narrated by: Dominic Hoffman

A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice • Named a Best Nonfiction Book of 2021 by Kirkus • A New York Times Book Review Paperback Row Selection • Shortlisted for the Moore Prize for Human Rights Writing

A stunning and heartbreaking lens on the global refugee crisis, from a man who faced the very worst of humanity and survived to advocate for displaced people around the world

One day when Mondiant Dogon, a Bagogwe Tutsi born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, was only three years old, his father’s lifelong friend, a Hutu man, came to their home with a machete in his hand and warned the family they were to be killed within hours. Dogon’s family fled into the forest, initiating a long and dangerous journey into Rwanda. They made their way to the first of several UN tent cities in which they would spend decades. But their search for a safe haven had just begun.

Hideous violence stalked them in the camps. Even though Rwanda famously has a former refugee for a president in Paul Kagame, refugees in that country face enormous prejudice and acute want. For much of his life, Dogon and his family ate barely enough to keep themselves from starving. He fled back to Congo in search of the better life that had been lost, but there he was imprisoned and left without any option but to become a child soldier.

For most refugees, the camp starts as an oasis but soon becomes quicksand, impossible to leave. Yet Dogon managed to be one of the few refugees he knew to go to college. Though he hid his status from his fellow students out of shame, eventually he would emerge as an advocate for his people.

Rarely do refugees get to tell their own stories. We see them only for a moment, if at all, in flight: Syrians winding through the desert; children searching a Greek shore for their parents; families gathered at the southern border of the United States. But through his writing, Dogon took control of his own narrative and spoke up for forever refugees everywhere.

As Dogon once wrote in a poem, “Those we throw away are diamonds.”

Amazing book about true diamonds!

This is the book to listen/read if u have never been a refugee like me and wondered what their lives are really like. Fastest audiobook I listened to, it is very special like the diamonds it represents... :)

Best book I ever read

reading (listening) this book has revealed me the story of a Friend (Mondiant) I met at the internations Gathering in NYC. I briefly discussed with him but he was full of energy. Now I understand why... after going through this book. I am pleased to meet his path in the US. I am a Malian Asylum Seeker here too. I feel more close to Mondiant after reading (listening) to this book. He will always be a great Friend... Ibrahima Dia

Life changing

Got a job working in refugee resettlement and I read this book to try and understand what many of my clients are escaping. This book changed me for the better, and motivates me to do my best every day to build a positive resettlement experience for my clients