The Hopes and Dreams SeriesA Family from Syria

Amala’s A story based on history

Tana ReiffIllustrations by Tyler Stiene

PRO LINGUA ASSOCIATES

Hope

Pro Lingua Associates, Publishers

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Copyright©2018byTanaReiff

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The Hopes and Dreams Seriesby Tana Reiff

The Magic Paper (Mexican-Americans)For Gold and Blood (Chinese-Americans)

Nobody Knows (African-Americans)Little Italy (Italian-Americans)

Hungry No More (Irish-Americans)Sent Away (Japanese-Americans)Two Hearts (Greek-Americans)

A Different Home (Cuban-Americans)The Family from Vietnam (Vietnamese-Americans)

Old Ways, New Ways (Jewish-Americans)Amala’s Hope (A Family from Syria)

Contents

1 LeavingSyria ............... 1

2 FiveYears ..................... 6

3 ANewHome ................10

4 GoingtoSchool ............15

5 Hijab .............................19

6 SchoolDance ............... 26

7 Ramadan ......................31

8 BadNews .................... 37

9 Hurricane .................... 44

10 RealMuslims .............. 50

11 HijabDay .................... 56

12 LifeGoesOn ............... 60

13 Thanksgiving .............. 65

Glossary .......................71

Amala’s Hope 1

1 Leaving Syria Aleppo, Syria, 2011

Somuchnoise! Birds and bombs atthesametime! YoungAmalaNajjar wastryingtoread. Shelaiddownthebook and put her hands overherears. Herpetbirds wereoutside, inacage. Buttheysoundedlike theywererightnext to her ears. Thebombing gotveryloud. Boom!Crack!Bang! Like10,000guns, only louder. Thiswasnotthefirsttime. Itwouldnotbethelast.

1

2 Hopes and Dreams

Amala’sMamaandBaba cameintotheroom. Herthreelittlebrothers walkedbehindtheirparents.

“Itistimetotalk,” said Jamal, her father.

“Thecivilwar iscomingtooclose.Thebombing getsworseeveryday. Wedon’twanttodie. Wemustleaveourhome.

“Weonlywant toliveinpeace,” saidFarah,hermother. “Wewanttobesafe.”

“Wehavehad agoodlifehere,” said Baba. “Goodschools. Weekendtrips.

Amala’s Hope 3

Thebusiness wehaveworkedso hard to build. Maybesomedayourlife willbegoodagain. Butnow,wemustgo. WewillgotoJordan. Wewillwaitthere. Wewillhope thingswillcooldown. Thenwecancomeback. Yourgrandparents wanttostayhere. Yourgrandmother isnotingoodhealth. Theywillrun the fruit and nuts business whileweareaway.”

Thethreelittleboys wrappedtheirarmsaroundtheirparents’legs. Theireyes werefulloffear. Amalawasafraidtoo. But not surprised.

4 Hopes and Dreams

“When?” wasallshesaid.

“Tonight,” Mamaanswered.

Theirbagswerepacked. Thevanwasready. Whennightcame, thebombingstopped. Theyloadedthevan.

“Whataboutmybirds?” Amalaasked. “Wecan’tleavethembehind!”

“Wemustsetthemfree,” said Baba. “Ifwetakethemalong theywilljustflyhome.”

Amala and her father wentoutside. Babaopenedthecage.

Amala’s Hope 5

“Good-bye,Altair! Good-bye,Amira!” Sheblewakiss as the birds flewupintotheair.

TheNajjarsdrove allthroughthenight. Asthesuncameup Mamasaid, “Wakeup! We’reinJordan!”

2 Five Years

TheNajjarfamily stayedwithBaba’suncle in Jordan. Thehousewascrowded. Theyknew theycouldnotstaythere forverylong.

Weekswentby. TheNajjarswishedtheycouldgohome. ButthewarinSyria wentonandon. Aleppowasdestroyed. Theyneversaw that their house hadbecomerubble,apileofconcrete. Insteadofgoinghome theywent toarefugeecamp.

6

Amala’s Hope 7

Theirgoodlife in Syria wasgoneforever. Therefugeecamp washotanddirty. Peoplegotsick. Some people died there. Nooneknew whatwouldhappennext. Theylived one day at a time.

Thenonedaysomeone fromaresettlementagencycalledthem. “Wecanhelpyou gototheUnitedStates,” saidthewoman. “Wouldyouliketogo?”

Forayear theNajjarsmet withtheagency. Theymetfivetimes.Theywaited.

8 Hopes and Dreams

TheUnitedStates wouldnotletthemin untiltheywerecleared. Sotheyanswered all the questions. Andthentheyanswered more questions. Theyhadnosecrets. Nothingtohide.

TheNajjarfamily wasMuslim. Thiswastheirreligion andtheirwayoflife. No matter whatwashappening, they prayed fivetimesaday.

At last, on a sunny day aftermorningprayers, theyleftthecamp. Theyhadtheclothes theywerewearing.

Amala’s Hope 9

Theyhadaphone. TheyhadtheirQuran, thebookofIslam. Theyhadlove foreachother and hope for the future.

Fivelongyears afterleavingSyria, after all they had been through, theyarrived inAmerica.

10 Hopes and Dreams

3 A New Home Eastern Texas, 2016

Amaladidnottalkmuch duringthetriptoAmerica. What was there to say? shethoughttoherself. This is a new life. Amala means hope. We will carry on.

Thebigplane cametoastop. At the airport, thesunwaswarm. A good sign, thoughtAmala.

Thewholefamily gotintoavan. Itwasbigger thantheirvanbackhome. Thevandriver wasfriendly.

10

Amala’s Hope 11

“WelcometoTexas!” he said. “Iampartofachurchgroup. We’regoingtohelpyou getonyourfeet.”

BabaandMama did not understand. Theyknew verylittleEnglish. AmalaknewsomeEnglish. She turned to her parents. “Nicepeople willhelpus startournewlife,” shesaidinArabic.

Thevan wenttoasmallcity inTexas. Itpulledup in front of a little house onabackstreet. Baba,Mama,Amala, and the three boys gotoutofthevan.

12 Hopes and Dreams

Thedriver opened the front door of the house.

Amala put her hands overhermouth. Shecouldn’tbelievehereyes! Thehousehadfurniture ineveryroom. Akitchentable withsixchairs. Flowersonthetable. Foodinthefridge. Beds in the bedrooms. Evenaflat-screenTV inthelivingroom. Theboysasked iftheycouldwatchagame.

“It’sallforyou,” said the man fromthechurchgroup. “Andwewillpaytherent forthefirstsixmonths.”

“Thankyou!” criedAmala.

Amala’s Hope 13

“Thankyou!” saidMama.

“Thankyou!”said Baba.

“Thankyou” werethefirsttwowords ofEnglish JamalandFarahspoke. Theywoulduse thosetwowords veryoften inthemonthstocome.

Everyday someonecameby tocheckontheNajjars. AnolderwomannamedMarisol wastheirspecialhelper. Shelived acrossthestreet. Shetookthem to the store. She paid for the food. Shedrovethem

14 Hopes and Dreams

tothedoctor andanywhereelse theyneededtogo.

Amalaalwayslistenedclosely toMarisolspeakingEnglish. Then,inArabic, shewouldtellherparents whatMarisolhadsaid. Theyallsaid“Thankyou” againandagain. Therewassomuch tobethankfulfor.

Amala’s Hope—Glossary 71

GlossaryDefinitionsandexamplesofcertainwordsand

terms used in the story

Chapter 1 — Leaving Syria (page 1 )

Aleppo — ThesecondlargestcityinSyria, locatedinthenorth,nearTurkey.(to) cool down — Tobecomequieter,calmer, less intense. We hope things will cool down.(to) come back — Toreturn. Then we can come back.wrapped (to wrap) — Toholdorenclose something. The three little boys wrapped their arms around their parents’ legs.loaded (to load) — Toputthingsintooron something. They loaded the van.cage — Awirecontainerforkeepinganimals. Baba opened the cage.blew (to blow) a kiss — Tobreatheagainsta handtoshowtheideaofakiss. She blew a kiss as the birds flew up into the air.

72 Hopes and Dreams

Chapter 2 — Five years (page 6)

destroyed — Brokenintopieces. Aleppo was destroyed.rubble — Destroyedbuildings. They never saw that their house had become rubble.pile — Asmallmoundorheapofthings.One thingontopofanother.concrete — Materialthatisusedforthewalls andfloorofabuilding. A pile of concrete.resettlement agency — Anorganizationthat findsnewhomesforrefugees. Then one day someone from a resettlement agency called them.cleared (to clear) — Togivepermissiontodo somethingorgosomewhere. The United States would not let them in until they were cleared.way of life — Customs and traditions. This was their religion and their way of life.no matter — Not important. No matter what was happening . . Quran — TheholybookoftheMuslimreligion.Islam — Thelandsandreligionofthe Moslemworld. They had their Quran, the book, of Islam.

Amala’s Hope—Glossary 73

Chapter 3 — A New Home (page 10)

fridge — Aninformalnameforarefrigerator, amachinethatkeepsthingscold. Food in the fridge.to check on — Tovisitandseehowthingsare. Every day someone came by to check on the Najjars.drove (to drive) — Totakesomeonesomeplace bycar. She drove them to the doctor.closely — Carefully.

Amala always listened closely to Marisol speaking English.

Chapter 4 — Going to School (page 15) keep her away from — Tostopsomeonefrom beingclosetoothers. He wanted to keep her away from the American boys.burned (to burn) up — Tobedestroyedbyfire. Perhaps these papers had burned up in the war.even so — inspiteof(that),despite(that),however.

She knew some English. Even so, they placed her a grade behind the other students her age.