Project

Run or Hide? Seeking Refuge in Tanzania

When Bill Clinton Hadam's refugee family was approved for resettlement in the U.S., the boy's parents faced a "Sophie's Choice" dilemma: him or his sister. After escaping slaughter in Congo and Rwanda, the family waited in a Tanzanian camp for nearly a decade. Rape was common there, and Bill's teen sister Neema was a victim. Afterward, she ran away. Her mother and stepfather felt helpless to search for her, since leaving the camp risked arrest and jeopardized their chances of a permanent home.

So in 2006, her parents made the agonizing choice to board a plane for Atlanta, leaving Neema behind. This year, reporter Mary Wiltenburg has been following 9-year-old Bill, his family, and their American life, in an award-winning series for The Christian Science Monitor. Now, thanks to the Pulitzer Center, the Little Bill Clinton series travels to Tanzania: to meet Neema, living with her 4-year-old son in an urban slum and desperate to reunite with her parents and brothers, and to visit refugee camps where her family's friends face uncertain futures as the country expels hundreds of thousands of refugees.