Sandra Uwiringiyimana, a member of the Banyamulenge tribe (also referred to as Tutsi Congolese), and was born in South Kivu, located in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but spent the majority of her childhood in the Congolese city of Uvira. She is a survivor of the Second Congo War, and the 2004 massacre at the refugee camp in Gatumba Burundi by the . She spent a few years in Africa as a stateless refugee, before the U.N. offered them a chance to relocate to America in late 2005. The application and screening process took years, but in April 2007 the family left Africa for Rochester New York.