Imagine having to leave the place you grew up, the only place you’ve known and only finding out a day before? That’s what happens to twelve year old Omar, in Elizabeth Laird’s Welcome to Nowhere, which sheds light on the ongoing civil war in Syria. The story starts in the beautiful city of Bosra in Syria, where Omar lives with his mom, dad, older sister Eman, older brother Musa (who has cerebral palsy), younger brother Fuad and baby sister Nadia. He works at work tourist shop for Rasoul, who he dreams of becoming like when he grows up. But his life is turned upside down when he finds out that he is moving to Daraa in three weeks, the place where all his troubles begin… His family moves into his grandmother’s house. At school, Musa befriends a group of popular kids who conspire against the government. Soon there are demonstrations against the government on the street and open firing. Things escalate quickly, unleashing a full scale civil war; Bombings and shootings become common and electricity is cut, leaving Omar in the darkness, without lights and with no contact to the outside world. Things continue like this and one day, as city faces terrible shell attacks, Omar is shot on the streets, but those are the least of his concerns when a shell lands on his house. Luckily, his family escapes unscathed, but in an instant, his home and everything he owns has been destroyed, and once again, his family is displaced and move to the countryside. Omar’s family moves in with his mom’s sister and his whole family is forced to live in a tiny storeroom. Everything is calm and placid, but mundane as Omar begins to work in the farm. The dark shadow of the war slowly grows larger and soon it extends into every inch of Syria leaving Omar with nowhere to go. His family is forced to leave on a dangerous journey to a foreign land. The travails of the journey and what lies ahead for Omar’s future form the rest of the story. Even though I am almost the same age as Omar and can barely imagine all the things he has to go through and all the difficult decisions he is forced to make, and what makes it even worse is that this is happening in Syria right now. This book makes a very complicated issue, easy to understand for readers. With the word refugee constantly popping up in the news, it’s hard to unwrap all the complication that come with it, but this book changed my understanding and ignited a passion in me to create change. If you are looking for a book to broaden your thinking or understand the political situation in Syria then this is a must read. In fact, I think any middle schooler should read this book, just to understand what is happening in the world currently or to learn more about refugees. My favourite part of the book was when Eman stands up for herself and fights for her rights despite living in a largely patriarchal society. As I read the book, I found myself chuckling at Musa’s quick wits, smiling at Omar’s optimism, but mostly lamenting reading about all the terrible things that were happening in Syria right now. Overall, this book is about a serious issue, but communicates its message to younger readers very effectively and transports readers into a different, but very real world. Welcome to Nowhere by Elizabeth Laird. Macmillan Children’s Books, 2017. Buy the book here and support Children’s Art Foundation-Stone Soup in the process! Have you read this book? Or do you plan on reading it? If so, comment below!
refugee project news
Saturday Newsletter: February 24, 2018
Turkish Aircraft Bombing Cyprus by Frosoula Papeptrou, age 6. This image was made shortly after the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974. A note from William Rubel Next week I will be in Israel! Jane Levi, Stone Soup’s Operations Manager and I will be starting a two week adventure testing a theory of David Eitam, an Israeli Archeologist, that the Natufian people (this is the civilization between around 12,500 and 9,500 BCE that started out as hunter gatherers and ended up inventing agriculture) first made bread by processing wild barley in mortars carved into bedrock. One my other Stone Soupcolleagues will write the Newsletter, and I may contribute a little travel section. Stone Soup’s refugee children’s project Last week I mentioned that we would like Stone Soup to become a place where refugee children can find a voice. For me, this week’s featured artwork, by a Greek Cypriot six-year-old, captures the fear and horror of war more powerfully than the news outlets that daily report to us about the brutalities of arial bombardment in cities in Syria and Yemen. If you would like to help us bring powerful works by children caught up in war–and this whether you are a student and might have a teacher that would get involved, along with one of your classes, or an adult reader of Stone Soup–let me know your interest by responding to this newsletter. This week’s art, and experiencing war For many years the Children’s Art Foundation, publisher of Stone Soup, collected children’s art from around the world. We started the collecting in 1977. One of the first gifts we received were a set of linoleum prints from Greek Cypriot children who had been caught up in the 1984 war with Turkey. In June, 1991, I went to visit a friend in Maribor, Yugoslavia. I arrived at the border in a train from Paris. It was the day the war of independence between Slovenia and Yugoslavia began. I had come to see a friend to collect mushrooms. I had called my friend Anton from a phone booth in Paris to confirm my arrival the next day. He had said, “come!” But, when I actually showed up the next day, which turned out to be the second day of the war, he was amazed. It turned out that he had thought I was making a joke! When the first air raid siren went off and everyone in our apartment building went down to the basement to hide I experienced the feeling of helplessness that all civilians must feel in wars. It is the feeling of the girl in the print who is screaming as the bombs drop. What can you do? There is nothing to do but wait to see what is going to happen to you. It is the most horrible feeling. You can’t really hide. You can’t really run. If the bombs drop where you are, they will find you. The basement of our apartment was a half-basement. We were not even fully underground. There were windows high up. We sheltered in a storage room with the bikes and gardening tools. In the half-light of those small high windows, as the sirens wailed, we stood there together, silent, just waiting for the explosions. The apartment was a few blocks away from a big communications center that would be an obvious target in a war. I fully expected to die in that room. What ran through my head in a loop was this sentence: “How stupid to die in someone else’s war.” As it turned out, the Yugoslav air force didn’t bomb us. After only ten days, the Yugoslav government decided to retreat from Slovenia and it became an independent country. The war moved on to what had been other parts of Yugoslavia where it then raged for years. None of us are going to be able to end war. But I do think that if we can give voice to children who have survived wars, that might at least make people think a little longer before they send bombers to destroy our homes with us in them. My daughter is in sixth grade and at her school they practice drills for what to do if there is a shooter in the school. I am sure most of you have heard about the killings at a school in Florida last week. One of the more eloquent statements after the shooting by one of the high school students who survived was this question: “Why do we deserve this?” It is a haunting question. It is one that everyone in a war must have thought at one point or another. And we can ask that on behalf of the frightened girl in the linoleum print by Frosoula. Why did she deserve to be running from jet planes dropping bombs? Writing about injustice A few weeks ago my daughter read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I decided I’d read the book, too, as she had been so engrossed in it. Wow! Is it violent! It is a Young Adult novel so I know that many of you older Stone Soup readers have read it or are going to. I think one of the big themes of the book, perhaps even the theme, is that same question: “Why do I deserve this?” Or, in the case of the The Hunger Games: “I do not deserve this. We do not deserve this.” I don’t want you to write about a war you haven’t been in. But I would like you to try your hand at a story about injustice–a story that explores the feeling that you do not deserve what is happening to you. That feeling can lead to helplessness. It can also lead to action. It can even lead to an awakening that sets you free. I know that this is a hard one. But, if you are inspired and come up with something inspiring, please submit it to Stone Soup so Editor Emma can consider it for publication. Until next time,
Saturday Newsletter: February 17, 2018
Perfect flying weather, especially for this trip Illustrator Amelia Jiang, 13, for Searching for Atlantis by Sonja Skye Wooley, 12. Published July/August 2016. A note from William Rubel Science Fiction Contest: Deadline April 1 Do you write science fiction? You have a little over five weeks to the April 1st deadline for our Science Fiction Contest. Another name for science fiction is “speculative fiction.” What if meat could be made in a factory so we wouldn’t need to kill chickens, pigs, and cows to eat the meat we like? How might that change the world? In fact, lots of work is being done by scientists to grow meat in factory laboratories. So, it isn’t necessarily a wild science fiction fantasy. What if cars could drive themselves? Then what? What would that world look like? Well, lots of people would be out of a driving job! And as the driverless cars might be operated like a taxi company, or like Uber, most of us might end up just calling for a car when we need one. If we did that, then there wouldn’t be so many (or any) cars parked on streets. There would be too many parking lots so we could do something else with them. What would our lives be like? What kind world—good or bad—might you imagine with driverless cars? Everything you know about science and technology can be brought into the creation of a speculative fiction story. The is your chance to explore, “What if?” Elon Musk’s company, SpaceX, just launched a powerful rocket. It is now already possible to imagine affordable rocket transport to the moon and to Mars. Well, what would that mean for us here on Earth? Would it make a difference? On Earth we have lots of trouble living peacefully all together. Could we make our space colonies reflect the best of who we humans are? Or, do you imagine that we’d mess up our space exploration, too? The Star Wars stories imagine a technologically advanced time in which fighting over power and control are still central to the story of advanced cultures, like ours. Is that what you imagine, too? Use what you know of science and technology to explore possible futures. I’ll remind you in a couple of weeks. You have five weeks, starting now. Giving Refugee Children a Voice What are we working on this week? We are beginning work on a project of publishing writing and art by refugee children. The idea is to offer the Stone Soup platform to give refugee children all over the world a voice and a creative outlet. Is this something you’d like to get involved with? If you do think you might be interested in helping with this project, then please read our introduction on our website, and get in touch with us. There is room for kids as well as adults to help with this. Books books books! We are continuing to develop our ideas for a Stone Soup Book Club, working with a major publisher on some of the details. So far, we have been discussing how to get free copies of books to our subscribers and future members of our Book Club; and thinking about how to organise discussion events with some of your favourite authors. There is some work to do on the website to make it all possible, which is getting started next week. We hope this sounds exciting–we think it does!–and we’ll have more news on the Book Club very soon. Until Next WeekWilliam From Stone Soup January/February 2001 Life Without You By Laberije Shala, 12 Art by Florije Bobbi, 12 You were loved, sweet, Always smiling When I needed you, You left. You gave me the name orphan, You gave me a black shadow, Life without you has no sense. Now, in your best years, Black soil covers you. O my Daddy On your grave There are roses It’s me who put them there Your orphan My Daddy A life without you. You can read more about these works by children from western Kosovo at our website; and please consider supporting and getting involved with our project, Giving Refugee Children a Voice.
