Film Description

In 2004, thirteen thousand Somali Bantu refugees realized their dream of coming to America. They are now living in fifty cities across the country, becoming the largest African group from a single community to settle in the United States at one time.

Rain in a Dry Land chronicles two years in the lives of two extended Somali Bantu families as they leave behind a 200-year legacy of oppression in Africa to face new challenges in a strange new land. The film begins in January 2004, at the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, where our featured families are stunned by what they learn about America in their “Cultural Orientation” class. From this beginning, filmmaker Anne Makepeace brilliantly succeeds in capturing every step of this remarkable journey, from their very different new homes – Springfield, Massachusetts versus Atlanta, Georgia – through their encounters with racism, poverty, failures of the school system, and severe culture shock. Both of these war-torn families do find ways to survive in America, and to create a safe haven. Presented in association with American Documentary/P.O.V., premiering on PBS in 2007 (check local listings).

*Official Selection of the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival 2006.