Book 1, The Things We Carried (43-54) Summary

There are no new clothes for the girls on Easter Sunday. Rachel and her sisters head off to church in their old shoes and dresses. Rachel can't even primp for church because the only mirror in the house is her faux-ivory hand mirror that the whole family has to share. Mother set it out in the living room, propped up against the wall. Rachel thinks that she is the only sister who cares what she looks like.

Rachel is appalled by what the Congolese wear. Children wear the ragbags of Baptist charity or nothing. People don't color coordinate. The women never wear pants just a sarong on bottom and another on top. The men dress in all kinds of clothes. Sandals are made of car tires. Rachel thinks that the people have the...