One letter, every Sunday evening, about the small lessons and beautiful accidents of being alive.
Every Sunday evening I write one letter. It is about the things I keep learning about being alive: the small lessons, the beautiful accidents, the people who surprise me, the ordinary days that turn out to mean something. My life did not begin gently, and maybe that is exactly why I notice how much of it is precious.
The letters live on Substack. Subscribe there and the next one arrives on Sunday at 6 PM.
The essays below are from before the letters began.
CHILD OF DUST
A powerful reflection on Child of Dust, a documentary that follows Sang, an Amerasian man born in Vietnam to a Vietnamese mother and an American father who left after the war.
The Traveler’s Prayer
To travel is not just to move through the world, but to move through the unknown within ourselves. Every immigrant, every refugee, every soul who has had to start again carries both a wound and a promise — the wound of loss and the promise that peace will find them again.
Hope, My Little Friend
When I spoke to the students of Polytechnic School, I expected to share my story. I didn’t expect to find myself reflected in their hearts — a reminder that hope is alive and growing in the next generation.
The Courage to Forgive
A reflection on healing, courage, and the freedom to begin again.
How to Survive After Surviving
Lately, I have been reflecting on what it truly means to survive after surviving.
As a survivor of the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, survival was the first language I ever learned. My earliest memories are not of playgrounds or laughter — they are of loss, fear, and silence. My introduction to humanity was genocide.
Written by Dydine Umunyana Anderson, author, speaker, and founder of Kind Kulture & Umunyana Coffee.
Read more essays on forgiveness, resilience, and the art of healing at Dydine.com/blog or subscribe on Substack.
