In the heart of Kigali lives Karen Bugingo, a normal teenager who is trying to fully live her youth age.

When suddenly, fate crushes all her dreams, all her hopes for a future and she becomes like a thin paper floating in the air waiting for the wind to take her from the stormy clouds to where the sun can shine brightly on her, her name is the only thing she can hold on to. Bugingo means life.

Imagine We couldn’t have been more proud to have this book as their first novel. It’s been a wonderful experience for the Imagine We team to work on this book. From the editing to the printing of the book.

“It took us one full year to have this story come together. This is a story of beauty and strength, of tears and laughter. My team and I are grateful to Karen for the incredible trust.” Says Dominique Alonga, CEO of Imagine We.

In this fictional account of her journey battling cancer, Karen embraces vulnerability and strength. It’s a beautifully written novel that shares the life of a teenager whose life is changed by something completely beyond her control.

Since the release of their first book in September 2016, Imagine We realized the need for Rwandans to share their stories with the world. The whole team pulls its effort to look for those stories and share them every single day.

In conjunction with the book release, Imagine We invites you to the big launch of the book on March 30th, 2018 at Karveli Kampala to celebrate Karen and this amazing achievement.

About Imagine We Rwanda

Imagine We is Rwanda’s leading commercial publishing house producing children and young adult books about life in the several cultures and context in the continent with the vision and focus of restoring the African dignity, improving education and literacy rates, and reader’s self-esteem.

Imagine We trains, edits, illustrates and distribute books in Africa and abroad. Imagine We’s vision is to challenge the current representation of Africa in all media through modern and culturally relevant storylines.

About The Author 

Karen Bugingo is a young adult living in Kigali. She is a strong advocate for cancer in Rwanda and hopes that her first book will challenge and educate Africans about cancer. She is also a student, a blogger and an entrepreneur.

Karen battled cancer at the age of nineteen and has been sharing her story of strength all over Rwanda to encourage young people to live fully. She lives in Kigali with her brother, grandmother and aunt.