Global Perspectives Film Series – Pushing the Elephant

In the late 1990s, Rose Mapendo was imprisoned with her family during violence that engulfed the Democratic Republic of Congo. When war came to Rose’s village, she was separated from daughter Nangabire, who was 4 years old at the time. Rose managed to escape with nine of her 10 children and was eventually resettled in Phoenix, Arizona. More than a decade later, Rose and Nangabire are reunited in Phoenix where they must face the past and build a new future. Rose struggles to find balance in her life as a mother of 10 and a full-time advocate for refugees, women, and peace in her country. Her speaking engagements take her around the world — from the White House and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva, to meetings with displaced women in Congo. Meanwhile daughter Nangabire, now 17, must adapt to America and discover how she fits into the sprawling Mapendo family. As they get to know one another, the mother and daughter must come to terms with a painful past, and define what it means to be a survivor, a woman, a refugee, and an American.