Memorable Viewer Surprises

Wamariya Family Reunion

Many viewers will never forget Clemantine and Claire Wamariya, sisters who escaped the Rwandan genocide. After witnessing the murder of family members, they hid for 100 days and then spent six years in refugee camps across Africa. They didn't know if their parents were dead or alive, so in 2000, they immigrated to America.

The sisters continued to search for their loved ones, contacting the Red Cross, UNICEF and other organizations for assistance. Then, one day, an acquaintance told Clemantine and Claire the news they hoped to hear—their mother and father were alive.

The family reconnected over the phone, but Clemantine and Claire hadn't seen them in person since the genocide began 12 years earlier. As the girls stood onstage, Oprah announced that she'd flown their parents to Chicago for a surprise reunion. Tears streamed down the girls' cheeks as they embraced the family they thought they lost.

Watch the family's emotional reunion.

Clemantine continues to thrive. She says she's doing a post-graduate year at a Connecticut boarding school before heading to Yale University. Her family is also doing well. "I have good news," she says. "The whole family—my dad, my mom, my sisters, all my siblings—are in the United States now, right in Chicago."