Since the opening up of South Africa, the country has become home to many refugees from the coups and civil wars of the rest of Africa. The most vulnerable are the children, some of whom arrive without parents, family or friends, facing a daunting challenge to find acceptance and a home in a strange, sometimes hostile adoptive country. Working with refugee children in Johannesburg, the author gave them suitcases on which to paint their personal stories and recent histories. Photographs of the painted suitcases, together with narratives collected over three years of interviews, reveal individual stories of hardship and longing, strength and resilience, offering insight into the past and present worlds of refugee children in South Africa. Shortlisted for the Sunday Times Alan Paton Award.
