al Rabeeah Abu Bakr - Homes: a refugee story

ABU BAKR AL RABEEAH WITH WINNIE YEUNG

Winnie Yeung 2018

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Published with the generous assistance of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Alberta Media Fund.

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Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication al Rabeeah, Abu Bakr, 2001, author

Homes: a refugee story / Abu Bakr al Rabeeah with Winnie Yeung.

Issued in print and electronic formats. ISBN 978-1-988298-28-3 (softcover). ISBN 978-1-988298-29-0 (epub). ISBN 978-1-988298-30-6 (pdf)

1. al Rabeeah, Abu Bakr, 2001. 2. Refugee children Iraq Biography. 3. Refugee children AlbertaEdmontonBiography. 4. Syria History Civil War, 2011 Personal narratives, Iraqi. 5. Syria History Civil War, 2011 Refugees Alberta Edmonton Biography. I. Yeung, Winnie, 1982, author II . Title.

HV640.5.I76A47 2018 305.906914092 C2018-900161-5 C2018-900162-3

Edited by Barbara Scott

Book design by Natalie Olsen, Kisscut Design

Cover photos Pat Stornebrink (top) and OBJM (bottom) / Shutterstock

Photo of Abu Bakr al Rabeeah by Samuel Sir

Photo of Winnie Yeung by Heiko Ryll

Printed on FSC recycled paper and bound in Canada by Marquis

For

Abu Bakr al Rabeeah

Hello Friends,

From a young age, my father taught me to love books. But he also taught me the somewhat questionablehabit of eating while reading. Im sure librarians everywhere are shuddering at the thoughtof pages stuck together with jam. This habit annoyed my long-suffering mother to no end. She wasalways nagging my father and I to put our books down at the breakfast table, while we sat hunchedover them: our mouths munching on toast, our minds lost in the pages. This was my bliss. Books havealways been like food to me, both nurturing and a source of delight. As a child, I greedily devouredbooks and, so the library was my version of a candy store.

While Ive always loved reading, writing was only a remote dream. My career took a different paththrough literature, but it was as an English teacher that I finally came upon a chance to write a story Ifelt needed to be shared.

The story that follows is not my own. It comes from my former ESL student, a young Syrian refugee whowanted to be seen and understood. It comes from his familys valiant love and quiet bravery. This bookcomes from Abu Bakr al Rabeeahs secret wish: a wish to share his story.

I wrote Homes in order to honour a life beautifully-lived despite the casual horrors of growing up in awar zone. Based on my interviews with Abu Bakr and his family, this book chronicles the strange twistsof fate that led them from the dangerous streets of Iraq, to the sudden violence of the Syrian conflict,to Canada, where they ultimately found safety. Abu Bakr shares his life with you, not because he wantsto highlight the violence, but because he feels like it can move people to love each other more.

I am incredibly humbled that my debut book, Homes: A Refugee Story, has been selected as OverDrivesnext Big Library Read. It brings such joy to Abu Bakr and I that his wish of wanting to tell the world ofSyrias plight is being fulfilled in such a far-reaching way. For this is the magic of books: they dont justfeed our imaginations, they build bridges of understanding. The relationship of sharing, receiving andhonouring each other is the true gift of storytellingsomething I am so grateful to be a partner in. Ihope that reading this book feeds your soul the way it did mine in writing it.

Bon appetit and happy reading,

Winnie Yeung

Join the discussion on discuss.biglibraryread.com.

This is a work of creative nonfiction, written by Winnie Yeung as told to her by Abu Bakr al Rabeeah and his family. Conversations and events have been recalled as best as can be remembered by the participants. In the interest of protecting the familys privacy and the safety of family members and friends who are still in Syria, some names and details have been changed.

Eulogy for Arabism

(pronounced Abu ba-CAR al Rah-BEE-ah)

ABU BAKRour protagonist, often called Bakr

HAFEDH AND NIHADhis father and mother

NASERhis older brother

MARYAM, ABEER, AIESHA, ASMAAhis older sisters

ABRAR AND ALUSHhis younger sister and brother

UNCLE MOHAMMED AND AUNT ATEKABakrs aunt and uncle

YOUSEF, ABDIL AZIZ, IBRAHIM, DILALtheir children, Bakrs cousins

UNCLE NAJIM AND AUNT MUNABakrs aunt and uncle

ABDULLAH, HANEEN, ALI, RAIYAN, ISLAM, MARAMtheir children, Bakrs cousins

GRANDMOTHER MARYAMBakrs grandmother

AMROBakrs best friend

ALIa friend of Bakr and Amros

Every Friday on the way home from the noon prayer service, Salat al Jumah, Father stopped to buy fresh fruit from the street vendors. Our mosque was barely a block from our apartment and the walk home was always a loud, lively time, with neighbours and friends catching up at the end of the week. On the day of Fathers birthday, April 18, he bought fruit for the family as usual but rather than lingering to chat, he hurried home. All morning, the fighter jets had screamed by. In the weeks before, every mosque in our neighbourhood, Akrama, had been attacked. Father texted me to go straight home after the service.

I always looked forward to Salat al Jumah. The comfort of belonging, Father in his white, ankle-length thawb tunic, the soothing prayers of peace murmured shoulder to shoulder with friends. I always went with my buddies or cousins, and on this particular afternoon, my neighbour and best friend, Amro, and I laughed as we joined the sea of people spilling out onto the packed street. The sheikh, he lives in the mosque.