How to save your child from certain death? Is it, as the father of the author believes, to trust the school so that she gets a "beautiful diploma"? Thus she would no longer be Hutu or Tutsi: she would reach the inviolable status of the "evolved". It is precisely to obtain this certificate that the author will be forced to go into exile. It will move from country to country, Burundi, Djibouti and France. Sometimes the chances that this precious paper promised him appear as a certainty, sometimes they vanish like a mirage. As his father told him, this "beautiful diploma" will be the talisman, always source of energy, which will allow him to overcome despair, disillusionment and disappointment. The author returns here to the autobiographical vein, with this fluid style, full of humor and fantasy that makes the story of his memories, however painful, sometimes fascinating.--Translation by Gallimard.