"Dad, do you think we will
ever be able to call this place
home?"
"We are so lucky - don't
you remember why?"
Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, 2015.
"Back then, Dad, you said we
were only leaving home for a
few months."
As we hear news about another nerve gas attack on the people of Syria, it remains unimaginable that a government could do that to innocent residents who are trying to keep themselves and their families safe. It is important that we continue to be aware of the unending tragedy for so many.
This honest account of what has happened and continues to happen in Syria first places readers in Aleppo City in 2013, where we meet Amina. She is on her way home from school, excited to share her good grade news with a friend, when a bomb strike changes her life forever. By 2017, her family (mother, father, brother and herself) have emigrated to Toronto. A time shift moves readers back to Aleppo prior to the bomb strike. Trying to come to grips with the fact that it is a government -led attack is at the heart of the anguish that has led so many to flee their homeland. It was and remains unexpected and heartbreaking for Syrians who now must seek asylum in world communities, as they have no homes and no hope for the future.
Samya Kullab uses her journalistic skill to help readers understand news from the Middle East. A former reporter for The Lebanon Star she has first-hand knowledge concerning the events and politics of the region. In this fictionalized account, we see the story from Amina's point of view - only one voice among many who have harrowing tales to tell. As the author moves us back and forth in Amina's life, we learn about Syria before the war. We learn about the politics, and the events that led to the crisis that has forced families to become refugees.
For Amina's family, it means a refugee camp in Lebanon and the dangers the family faces there - all too real and described honestly to help readers gain understanding for their plight. Isolated because they are from Syria, they have little food and nothing to keep them busy. Without any means of support and needing funds to secure medical attention for Amina's brother, Amina must leave school. There are many painful moments, including her mother's need to go home again, only to find they have no home. In that moment, the family accepts an offer to leave for Canada.
It is important for middle and high school students (and adults as well) to read this story. It puts a face, albeit imagined, to the very real circumstances that force people to leave everything they have always known and make a new life. It is powerfully told and provides a face for them to remember as they listen to continuing news reports.
Heartbreaking and hopeful, memorable and mind-boggling.
No comments:
Post a Comment