Strength in What Remains summary

During his time as a medical student, Deo worked as an intern at a rural hospital in Bujumbura, Burundi’s capital. On the morning of October 22, 1993, he came out of his room ready for work – but the doctor and nurse he was supposed to accompany were nowhere to be found.

Civil war had broken out in Burundi, caused by the murder of the Burundian president, Melchior Ndadaye.

In the spring of 1994, violence and chaos were tearing Burundi apart. Deo, at the age of 24, had spent that past six months on the run – first from the eruption of violence in Burundi, then from the slaughter in Rwanda.

Deo may have grown up barefoot in Burundi, but he had done well for himself. His education was an asset; in the three years that he’d been a medical student, he’d always been near the top of his class.

During his first weeks in New York, Deo slept on the floor of Muhammad’s apartment, which was little more than part of an abandoned tenement. But when Muhammad decided to return to Senegal, Deo realized that he’d have to move; it would be too dangerous to sleep among the drunks and drug addicts without Muhammad’s help and protection.

Muhammad took Deo to another abandoned tenement in Harlem, but when other squatters threatened Deo with a knife and stole his money, the only choice was to leave. As a result, Deo had to live in Central Park for several weeks.

Deo continued his English studies throughout the spring and summer of 1995. Meanwhile, he applied to Columbia. He’d been taking English courses there, and now he wanted to pursue a degree in biochemistry.

As part of the application process, however, Deo had to prove that he’d been to school before. Naturally, he didn’t have any of the transcripts from Burundi, and at first the administration of the medical school he’d attended in Burundi refused to supply any of his records: according to their files, Deo was dead. Thankfully, Deo’s records were eventually found and sent.

After graduating from Columbia, Deo wanted to continue pursuing his dream of studying medicine. However, he didn’t have permanent residency in the United States, and was thus unable to enroll as a medical student.

James O’Malley, a lawyer and friend of Nancy and Charlie Wolf, had been working to obtain a green card for Deo, but the waiting list seemed interminable. And without a green card, it was all but impossible to apply to medical school.

After Deo’s life took several turns for the worse, he was able to get back on his feet due to the help of a few kind strangers. But how did he win their support? And what sort of person helps a stranger? The author wanted to find out, so he talked to the central figures in Deo’s life: Nancy and Charlie Wolf, and Sharon McKenna.

In the case of Nancy and Charlie Wolf, this couple’s past experiences predisposed them to look kindly on a young African seeking help.

After medical school, Deo left to spend the summer of 2005 working in Rwanda at a district hospital rebuilt by Partners In Health. While he was there, he kept thinking: “Burundi needs hospitals like this.”

So, in June of 2006, Deo returned to the village where he grew up and started trying to figure out how they might build a health system.