by Nadia Nashimi
Reading
about the lives of people struggling to survive the oppression of fundamentalist
regimes can knock the wind out of us. We
who are sitting in our chairs reading about what it takes to flee, to survive,
to live in constant fear of being sent back, to be without food, money or
shelter, are when in the hands of the proper author, there too.
When the
Moon is Low is the
story of Fereiba and her family in Afghanistan just before and just as the
Taliban take over. It is the story of
her arranged marriage to Mahmoud who she learns to love as much as he loves
her. It is the story of that life cut
apart when the Taliban target and murder Mahmoud. And it is the story of what it takes to have
the courage to survive at all costs.
Fereiba
flees with her teen-age son Saleem, her daughter and sickly infant son through
Iran and into Europe on her way to England.
The young family is helped along the way by people who understand
suffering and hope in the same breath.
But when Saleem is separated from
the family it becomes two stories.
Fareiba’s journey to England and
her eternal hope for Saleem. And it is
now Saleem’s story as an Afghan refugee
wandering on his own, making his own way relentlessly through the cities
of Europe to get to his family.
There are
many thousands of people in this world fleeing to another place, escaping their
homeland for the chance to live at all.
We hear nightly about borders being patrolled, fences being built, over filled boats
overturning, refugee camps, and all I could
think of while reading this in the comfort of my chair was, “could I do it?”
(advance copy provided by Above the Treeline)
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