After everything that has happened to him, Deo continues to pursue and realize his dream, remaining who he is throughout his journey and maintaining the culture that raised him. One of the main things you realize after following everything that Deo goes through on his journey, is that he continues to follow his dream of becoming a doctor and, more importantly, eventually manages to open his own clinic. But even when he returned to Burundi to start his project, “many friends and relatives wondered why Deo kept returning to Burundi. Many, including his mother, said he would not tempt fate in this way. To me he said: "But it's my country, whatever happens." You know?" (Kidder 226). This shows the connection and community he felt with his country. He enjoyed it no matter what, and nothing will stop him. With everything he's been through, he still feels like it's a part of him , and you can tell from his experience on his trip back. Or when he sees his old medical school where he studied and screams "It was so beautiful!" (Kidder 223). that shows how grateful he is and how he knows it's the reason he got to where he is now. It's part of his culture to just be happy, for something so small, and to just be grateful someone from another culture wouldn't need to shout out that while visiting his old school he went through a hard time. And I think that's another part of his old culture that Deo maintains, and that's part of who he is as a person. Ultimately, adapting to a new country it won't happen overnight, and it takes time, but hard work pays off in the end. In order for you to succeed in a new country you have to adapt, but that adaptation won't happen overnight, and I... middle of paper... learned that the hard way. But despite everything he went through, he still managed to make it, and it all led to what would be his success. No one could have imagined that the man who slept outside in Central Park would graduate from college in Columbia, and no one could have imagined that the man who at one point literally gave up on life would be able to open his own clinic. And he was able to accomplish these things because he learned to adapt to the cultures he found himself in and learned to find the best in them. This shows that culture not only plays a role in a country, but also in a person's life and how much it can help someone sometimes simply survive, and once you find a middle ground between the two, just like Deo did, succeed in not just one, but two countries. Work Cited Kidder, Tracy. The strength in what remains. New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2010. Print.