I think there are still far too many people who assume Muslims are terrorists. It is heartbreaking to know that this is the reality for so many people.Īnother thing that is important was Bakr’s relationship with Islam. I cannot imagine a child (he was only about 10 at the time) seeing something that awful in the first place, let alone having to help clean it up, gather body parts to take to the authorities, or be in any way involved. They sighed and went and got buckets and things to clean it up with, and other neighbors came out to help. A couple days afterward, Bakr and his friends came home from playing soccer and saw that the site of the explosion still had a lot of blood and body parts. When a bomb had gone off near his home, the community ran towards it to try to help because they knew the ambulances would be a long time coming, if they came at all. He said there wasn’t a constant background noise of gunfire, explosions, screaming.

When Bakr first arrived in Canada, one of the things he had the hardest time adjusting to was how quiet it was. It also really highlighted a lot of things I think more people, Americans in particular, need to learn about.įor one thing, it is absolutely horrifying what humans can become accustomed to. It was beautifully written, almost poetic in parts, and packed in a ton of detail and information is such a slim book. My summary probably makes this book sound boring AF, but it was definitely not. Eventually, Bakr and his family gain a highly coveted spot in the UNHCR refugee program and were relocated to Canada, where they all had to learn an entirely new way of life. As the violence in their city of Homs grew worse, Bakr learned, along with everyone else, to avoid the soldiers who would randomly stop citizens, never to go anywhere without his documentation proving who he was, and what to do if there was gunfire or a bomb explosion. Playing soccer or video games were evergreen favorite pastimes, and he loved learning more about his faith and attending services in his nearby mosque. Of course, that was right around the time the Syrian civil war was getting started, so Bakr and his family essentially leapt from the frying pan into the fire.Īs he grew up in a country sundered by war, Bakr and his friends found small joys and ways to be happy. His family moved to Syria when he was nine in the hopes of escaping the escalating violence in Iraq. Homes: A Refugee Story by Abu Bakr al Rebeeah and Winnie YeungĪbu Bakr al Rabeeah was born in Iraq.

Homes by Abu Bakr al Rabeeah