Bienvenue Ntwari Character Analysis in Outcasts United

Generose’s middle son and the brother of Alex, Ive, and Alyah. Bien escaped civil war in Burundi with the rest of his family and spent four years in a refugee camp in Mozambique before coming to the United States. Immediately upon arriving, Bien meets Grace Balegamire, who speaks Swahili like he does and introduces him to the Fugees. Bien eventually becomes a star player on the Under Thirteens team.

Bienvenue Ntwari Character Timeline in Outcasts United

The timeline below shows where the character Bienvenue Ntwari appears in Outcasts United. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Refugees, Discrimination, and Resilience Theme Icon

On September 26, 2005, Bienvenue Ntwari wakes up after his first night in the U.S. Two days before, he, his... (full context)

Community and Teamwork vs. Division Theme Icon

Bien’s family is from Burundi, one of the poorest countries in the world. For decades, a... (full context)

Bien wakes up and goes outside to explore. He sees a boy his age in the... (full context)

...he has to go to soccer practice for a team of refugee kids like them. Bien loves soccer, and Grace offers to ask the coach, Luma, whether he can join. Bien... (full context)

At practice, Grace asks Luma if Bien can join the Fugees. Luma gets a lot of new kids and knows how helpful... (full context)

Discipline, Dedication, and Success Theme Icon

In August 2006, tryouts start up again for the Fugees. When Bien visits the new field, he is surprised by its poor condition, thinking, “it’s like Africa.”... (full context)

In the second half, they put on a show. Josiah scores, and after Luma moves Bien from defense to offense, he makes an amazing bicycle kick. Jeremiah scores again, and Bien... (full context)

Bienvenue lives with his brothers, Alex and Ive, his baby sister Alyah, and his mother, Generose.... (full context)

...Alex is fifteen and understands English, but he is shy about his thick Burundian accent. Bien, at thirteen, picked up the language more quickly, and speaks with less of an accent.... (full context)

Luma is also getting to know her team better. Bien is like “a secret weapon” she can keep hidden on defense for the first half,... (full context)

Luma then moves Bien up to center midfielder, and no one seems to notice at first. Bien controls the... (full context)

The Blue Springs coach then calls out for his players to mark Bien. The next few minutes are “frantic,” with both teams playing hard and the Blue Springs... (full context)

...to 2 a.m. Far worse than the actual work is the idea of leaving Alex, Bien, and Ive home alone to take care of baby Alyah. This task falls mostly to... (full context)

...the scalding skillet and drops it on the back porch to keep the smoke out. Bien and Ive appear at the kitchen door. Ive asks what that was supposed to be.... (full context)

Bien takes a corner kick and the Fugees work together to and cross it to Idwar,... (full context)