Alone: the journeys of three young refugees by Paul Tom

In Alone, readers will explore the real-life stories of three young refugees as they journey alone to the safety of another country. 

Ashfin is thirteen-years-old and lives in Iran. In the summer he and his family often slept on the roof of their house because it was so hot. While his country has been at war, it is only now that it has come to his city. Now instead of spending nights on the roof, they hide in basement with the lights off. Afshin can't wait to become a soldier as he feels he is a superhero. War seems exciting to him. But his parents have other ideas: they decide to send him away to Canada. 

Thirteen-year-old Alain lives in Bujumbura, Burundi with his two older brothers, Igor and Camille and his mother who is a businesswoman. His father is often away as he is in the army.  One day Alain learns that his father has been arrested and is being questioned by the authorities. His brothers and his mother are deeply frightened. They begin to get threatening phone calls and letters, and their house is watched at night by men on motorcycles. So Alain's family decides to flee.

Sixteen-year-old Patricia lived with her mother in a shipping container after her father abandoned them. Patricia wasn't able to attend school because she had to work with her mother so they could make enough money to be able to eat. Eventually, she was sent to live with her father's sister but when her parents reconciled she returned to live with them.

When she turned sixteen Patricia signed up to play softball and found herself attracted to another girl on the team. Eventually her secret comes out, horrifying her parents. If other people find out, Patricia could go to jail and her family will be persecuted. So as the news spreads, her parents make arrangements for Patricia to travel to New York to stay with her uncle for a supposed "softball tournament". However, this is a one-way trip.

For all three young people, their journeys will be complicated and dangerous. They will suffer loneliness, separation and poverty but like many refugees, they will also work hard, and persevere. 

Discussion

Alone is poignant account of three young refugees who flee their homelands because of war or persecution. Their stories are told in five short chapters, Chapter 1 Leaving Everything Behind, Chapter 2 Saying Goodbye, Chapter 3 It Isn't Over Yet, Chapter 4 Mama, Where Are You, and Chapter 5 Hope For Tomorrow. Author Paul Tom was born to Cambodian refugees in camp in Thailand. Now a Montreal-based director, author, video editor and curator of museum video exhibitions, Alone is Paul Tom's first book. 

Although their circumstances are different, all three refugees, Afshin, Alain and Patricia face uncertainty over their future as they travel to a strange country. All three endure the loneliness of separation from their parents, in particular their mothers. This is highlighted in "Chapter 4 Mama, Where Are You?"  Afshin must watch his Iranian classmates at lunch eat the food their mothers make for them.  Alain whose mother has died in a hospital in Nairobi, Kenya, the loss is especially keen. He wakes up crying one morning. "But I'm tired of being strong all the time. I'm broken. Mama is gone forever. And I miss her so much." In Canada, talking on the phone to her mother reminds Patricia of the long distance between them and how much she misses her mother. "I was prepared for many things when I came here. But not for a life without her." Patricia states that "I don't realize that this is the last time I will feel the enveloping weight of her love." 

All three experience setbacks once they arrive in the United States or Canada. They feel the loneliness and separation from those they left behind keenly: When Afshin is invited to a classmate's home for dinner, the smell of ghormeh sabzi is overwhelming. "The smell brings back happy memories. I see familiar faces and I hear laughter, the sounds of children playing and adults talking loudly, carefree. I take a bite. The world stops. I'm caught under a wave of emotions. My throat tightens. I start to tremble. It's so intense that I burst into tears. At that moment, I can feel every kilometer separating me from my childhood and the people I love."  For Alain, the accomplishment of graduating high school is painful. "At the high school graduation ceremony, the other students are surrounded by their parents and loved ones. I pretend to look for my parents in the room. I know they're not here." The cover of Alone effectively portrays this sense of loss and of separation.

Alone highlights the experiences of three real-life young refugees who fled their countries, leaving behind family, friends and their culture, in the hopes of being able to live in peace, safety and dignity. Tom concludes Alone by letting his readers know what has become of all three refugees after being accepted into Canada. The short text and digitally created illustrations help those of us who live in countries receiving refugees, to empathize and understand, to be more accepting and to put ourselves in their situations. Few want to be a refugee, and most refugees would love to return home to their families and their countries. Alone helps us to understand and to empathize. This biography is an adaptation of the documentary film, Seuls.

Book Details:

Alone by Paul Tom
Toronto: Groundwood Books  2022
143 pp.

Orange For The Sunsets by Tina Athaide

In Orange For The Sunsets, the story focuses on the friendship between two tweens,  Asha Gomez who is a well off Indian Ugandan and her friend Yesofu, who is a much poorer African Ugandan.

Yesofu has received an invitation to Asha's twelfth birthday party and wanted to go but his mother reminds him that "You and Asha are from different worlds." So Yesofu doesn't attend her party at the Indian club but instead waits outside for Asha to leave so he can give her the birthday gift. But Asha refuses Yesofu's gift out of anger that he did not attend her party and made her look foolish. In her anger she breaks the bracelet, infuriating Yesofu who runs off.

After Sunday Mass the next day, Asha recovers all ten beads from Yesofu's bracelet and repairs the bracelet so she can wear it. At school she shows Yesofu the repaired bracelet and tells him it's the best birthday present she's ever received. After school at Asha's home, Yesofu tells her that the school cricket team's newly chosen captain will get to throw the first pitch at the India-Uganda cricket match. He hopes to be chosen captain.

The following Friday, Asha and the Gupta twins, Neela and Leela, are making their way to Sari House to shop for the upcoming dance at the Entebbe Club when Mr. Bhatt, the owner of Cafe Nile ushers them quickly into his shop. On India Street, what looks like a parade turns out to be a demonstration by African Ugandans in support of Idi Amin who has just made a big announcement ordering all Indian Ugandans to leave the country.

Disobeying Mr. Bhatt, Asha drags Neela and Leela into the street only to find they are caught up in the demonstration where the Africans are chanting "Indians go home." Terrified, and realizing that their lives are at risk, Asha and her friends try to get to safety. Meanwhile Yesofu and his brother Esi ride to the demonstration and meet Akello there. They are thrilled by the prospect of a brighter future, however Yesofu recognizes Asha in the crowd and that she is in trouble. Asha is saved by Yesofu's brother Esi who gets her out of the crowd on his motorcycle and takes her home.

At school when Asha tries to convince Yesofu and Akello that Idi Amin's order is wrong, she finds the African Ugandan students push back, telling her that they deserve better in their own country.  With seventy-five days to go before the deadline to leave, Asha's father wants to leave before the situation gets worse. However, her mother is convinced that things will settle down especially since Idi Amin has exempted government workers like Mr. Gomez. Asha doesn't want to leave her friends in Uganda.

Asha and her family attend the India-Uganda cricket match but the match never happens. When Idi Amin arrives, he announces to a cheering crowd that he has sent the Indian team home and that he has also revoked the exemption for professionals like Mr. Gomez. With the crowd chanting "Africa for Africans!", Asha's family and the many other Indian families flee the game in panic. Asha's father insists that they must now leave Uganda, but once again her mother refuses, insisting that this crisis will pass.

Two weeks later, Asha calls her sister Teelu in London asking her to help in convincing their father to stay. During the call, Asha discovers her parents' passports in her father's home office and decides to hide them. As the days pass and the deadline draws nearer, it becomes increasingly evident that Asha and her family cannot stay. Her friend Yesofu finds himself equally conflicted, not wanting to lose his best friend but at the same time hoping for change that will lead to a better life. Leaving will mean letting go.

Discussion

Orange For the Sunsets explores the events surrounding the  historic order by Ugandan President Idi Amin in 1972 to banish Ugandans with Asian ancestry from the country. 

Uganda, initially isolated from outside influence due to its position in Central Africa,  saw an influx of missionaries in the early 1800s. This led to conversions to Catholicism, Protestantism and Islam. The country became a British Protectorate in 1894 after years of civil war between Catholic and Protestant converts. The presence of South Asians in Uganda was the due to the British who brought in workers in for the construction of the Ugandan Railway and also to work in the civil service. By 1972 when Ugandan President Idi Amin issued his order, there were approximately eighty thousand Asian Ugandans living in the country. They were given ninety days to leave.

Idi Amin's order was essentially the ethnic cleansing of the country. Its purpose, according to Idi Amin,  was to give back to Ugandans their country. During British rule, preferential treatment was given to the South Asians they brought in from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Asian Ugandans were generally better educated and better off than African Ugandans. As a result they commonly worked in the banking and business sector and were not integrated into Ugandan society. This resulted in friction between the two ethnic groups and the growth of "Indophobia".

Idi Amin's predecessor, Milton Obote attempted to help African Ugandans through a series of laws restricting the rights of Asian Ugandans. Idi Amin's edict would mean big changes in Uganda and ultimately would result in the destruction of Uganda's economy as Asian Ugandans fled the country taking their money and expertise with them.

Orange For The Sunsets is an important novel that explores the 1972 expulsion of tens of thousands of Asian from Uganda through the dual narratives of Asha, an Indian Ugandan, and Yesofu who is African. Through these two characters, Athaide is able to effectively portray the vast disparity between the two ethnic groups in Uganda and their experiences during this difficult time in a way that is meaningful and invites young readers to thoughtful consideration.

From the very beginning of the novel, Athaide portrays the significant economic and social disparity that exists between the two main characters, Asha Gomez who is an Indian Ugandan and her best friend, Yesofu who is African Ugandan. Asha's father who is from Goa, India works in the Ministry of Tourism, arranging "special passports and visas for important dignitaries and other visiting government officials." Asha lives "in a pale yellow two-story house. Twice ...no, triple or quadruple the size..." of Yesofu's home with a "wraparound verandah". Their sitting room has "thick brocade curtains" and a "round, leather pouf" . Their Sunday lunch is followed by sweets in the sitting room. They can afford to eat kulfi or ice cream and serve their tea on a silver platter. Asha's family have African servants, including Yesofu's mother Fara who works as a housemaid and cook. Asha's older sister Teelu is studying nursing at a school in London, England.

In contrast, Yesofu whose family belongs to the Ganda tribe, lives in a two room shack, "made of wattle and daub -- woven rods and twigs plastered with clay and mud" with a grass roof. Yesofu sleeps on a woven mat and gathers branches for firewood. His mother has very little education having only complete up to primary class three and his Baba works in the fields all day. Yesofu's education is paid for by Asha's father and his dreams of college and playing professional cricket hinge entirely on a cricket scholarship.

Life is more restrictive for Yesofu and his fellow African Ugandans. Although the Indian Club where Asha has her party accepts African Ugandans, the only Africans in the club are those who serve drinks. Even at Asha's home Yesofu has had to come through the back door into her home, or stay in the kitchen if her parents were entertaining guests. And Yesofu and his friend Akello are the first African Ugandans to make his school cricket team. Even though Yesofu is an accomplished player, Rajeev, an Indian is chosen over him to be the team captain. Yesofu is only awarded the title when Rajeev reveals he will be leaving the country.

Readers will realize that Asha's family is very well off and that life holds many more opportunities for her than it does for Yesofu and his fellow African Ugandans. For Yesofu, the path to a better life is a college education but that comes at a cost he cannot afford. He is in school only because Asha's father pays his fee. Athaide's portrayal of life in the country shows how British colonial practices harmed the social and cultural fabric of Uganda and its indigenous peoples. 

Both Asha and Yesofu experience intense internal conflict over what is happening. Asha, who loves her life and Uganda, is in denial about the reality of life in her country. Her life of comfort and privilege means she doesn't understand how her being Indian means a very different way of life than that of Yesofu. Her view of the world is very simple and naïve. When Idi Amin's edict is issued, Asha is in denial, "Uganda was home. The president couldn't make her leave."  At school Asha is confronted by her African classmates including Yesofu and Akello who point out that Uganda belongs to the Africans and that the Indians merely continued taking from the country after the British left.

Asha doesn't really understand the situation in her country partly because she is well off and partly because her parents do not talk to her about what is happening. When she asks her Papa she is told "Nothing you need to worry about." This isolation from the reality of what is happening leads Asha to believe they are not at risk and that her family won't be affected. She also has a simplistic view that people need to learn to get along. For example, when Asha states that she should wear the traditional African gomesi to the Entebbe Club, her friend Leela reminds her not to forget that she is Indian. But Asha responds, "Indian. African. We're different, so what if people stopped making such a big deal of it, then it wouldn't matter so much."

It is in her classroom when the topic is brought up that Asha begins to learn more about the reality of life in Uganda. For example, Yesofu mentions that his father was refused a bank loan to buy land, Asha wonders, "Had Yesofu's dad always wanted a piece of land? How come she didn't know?"  This leads her to other questions like, "Why is Amin punishing us? Whose fault is it? Why are Indians being blamed? How come the British didn't hire Africans?"

For Yesofu, the conflict is more personal and also generates feelings of internal conflict. Upon learning that Amin has ordered the expulsion of the Indians and the possibilities this might create for Africans like himself he wonders, "The man's words turned inside of Yesofu. It wasn't just the opportunities opening up for Africans but also the bit about Indians being kicked out. Did that mean all Indians -Asha too?"  For Yesofu, the possibility of a brighter future, of his Baba being able to buy land, of attending college and having a better life lead him to support the actions of Idi Amin. He is certain his friend Asha will understand "...how the president's plan could help him and other Africans". Yesofu tries to celebrate with other members of his family and his friends, part of the Ganda tribe but "It felt like he was betraying them by not joining in, but wrong if he did."  Akello insists that the Indians must go because they don't belong in Uganda. When challenged about the morality of taking from the Indians, Akello tells Yesofu that leaving may be best for Asha. "Her Uganda is changing. It's going to be an Africa for Africans. Not an African for Indians and Africans."

However Yesofu soon finds that there is a dark side to the expulsions as he witnesses the beating of an Indian man in the street and Akello assaulting Asha for calling him a shamba boy. With many countries refusing to take in the Indian refugees, Yesofu remembers the article showing "...The angry white faces holding their signs of hate. Were Africans any different? They didn't want the Indians any more than the British did..."

It is Asha's experience in Katabi, the rural area where Yesofu lives, that ultimately helps her understand events from the African point of view. After she is rescued from the well where she fell being chased by Akello, Asha realizes she doesn't know Yesofu's life. "She'd never worked in the sugarcane fields. She'd never drawn water from a well for cooking. She'd never even had to wash her own clothes. Yesofu deserved to have everything she had or used to have. She wished she'd realized sooner how not having these things did make a difference..." When Yesofu visits her in the hospital Asha tells him that she's been selfish, not really understanding that their lives were different. "I never really thought about what your life was like outside my world."

The title of the novel is taken from the description of the colour of one of the beads from Asha's friendship bracelet that Yesofu gives her for her birthday. Esi is only able to recover four beads from the well. "Red for hibiscus flowers. Brown for sweetgrass. Blue for Lake Victoria. And orange for the sunsets."  Although only four beads remain, their friendship endures. Asha is leaving Uganda but the two friends do not say good bye but "Tautakutana tena." Or until we meet again.

Although the characters in Orange For The Sunsets are fictional, Athaide has used her family's experience in Uganda during this time and the stories told during family get-togethers to craft a realistic and informative novel.  The novel includes several informative features in the back matter including 90 Days In History: A Countdown to the Expulsion which is a timeline of the events, a detailed Author's Note with pictures from Athaide's family, a Bibliography and an Additional Resources section.

Book Details:

Orange For The Sunsets by Tina Athaide
New York: Katherine Tegen Books       2019
pp. 328

DVD: Queen of Katwe

Queen of Katwe is a biopic about a young Ugandan girl, Phiona Mutesi who becomes a Woman Candidate Chess Master after competing in the World Chess Olympiad. The movie traces her life and development as a chess master beginning in 2007 until 2012.

In 2007 nine-year-old Phiona is living in Katwe, the largest of Kampala's slums with her mother Harriet and her brothers, Brian and Richard. Phiona's father has died, although the reason is not given in the film (he died of AIDS when she was three years old, making the family's situation desperate). Phiona's older sister, Night is becoming involved with a guy named Theo who gives her rides on his motorbike. When he shows up at their home in the slum, Harriet chases him away and scolds Night telling her she needs to sell maize to feed her brothers.

Meanwhile Robert Katende tells his friend Kyazze that he has been turned down for an engineering job. Kyazze tells him the officials don't care about his marks but about his family status. He convinces Katende to accept a full time job with the ministry giving hope to slum children. Katende reluctantly accepts, telling Kyazze he will do the job only until he finds an engineering job. 

Phiona and her brother Brian are sent out daily to sell maize in the market, but her older brother frequently disappears. One day Phiona decides to follow him and discovers he goes to a camp run by Sports Outreach Institute, a Christian organization that uses sports to evangelize children. The program is run by Robert Katende. At Sports Outreach he gets served a cup of porridge and is taught how to play chess. Phiona enters the shack but is mocked by the other kids who tell her she smells. Undeterred by the comments about her smell, Phiona showers, cleans herself and arrives the next day to learn how to play chess. Phiona shows an aptitude for chess and  by 2008 begins to win games against the other children in the program. The other children are anxious to play the city children as Katende promised, so he approaches the Chairman of the Father Grimes Tournament, which is held at King's College at Budo. Chairman Barumba cites many reasons why the Katwe children cannot compete; they might bring diseases, they do not attend a school, and they cannot pay the 4,000 shillings entrance fee. However, Katende thanks him and is able to make the fee by playing soccer.

Meanwhile, Harriet pulls Brian and Phiona out of the Pioneer club believing they are being taught to gamble. However Katende manages to convince her that chess is not a gambling game but one of reason and intelligence. He also convinces her to allow her children to play in the tournament at King's College, promising to find a way for them to attend school. At the Father Grimes National Schools Chess Championship, the Katwe children do well but it is Phiona who defeats the top-ranked player and is awarded the Budoan gold medal. For Phiona, it is the beginning of a journey that will take her to different countries and open doors to education and opportunities both for herself and her family.

Discussion  

In Queen of Katwe, well known actors Lupita Nyong'o and David Oyelowo were cast as Phiona's mother Nakku Harriet and Robert Katende respectively. Phiona was played by Madina Nalwanga, a newcomer and fellow Ugandan. All give excellent performances.

Director Mira Nair who lives in Kampala for part of the year, shots some of the movie's scenes in Kampala. Nair effectively captures the precarious situation of Phiona's family as they struggle to survive day to day. It is a most revealing portrait of the very poor in Africa. There is no electricity in the Katwe slum, instead they must burn paraffin. At one point the family arrives home after rushing Phiona's brother to the hospital, to find they have been evicted from the shack they live in. They spend the night wandering Katwe. Eventually they find a home; it has no privacy with a patchy roof and even missing walls. As Phiona wins tournaments her family's situation begins to improve. Chess offers her the opportunity to escape the slum and purchase a new home for her mother.

The pacing of the movie is uneven as it takes time to build Phiona's development as a chess player and to show how winning affects her relationship with her mother. As Phiona becomes known throughout Uganda she refuses to work, wanting to spend her time studying chess strategy. This attitude makes her mother angry and she confronts Katende telling him that he has ruined her children. Phiona learns to read and write and eventually goes to live with the Katendes for a period of time. Her mother, at first reluctant to encourage Phiona, eventually realizes that playing chess might be the way out of poverty for her daughter, especially after Night returns home, abandoned and pregnant.

Critics of the film have questioned why a movie was made about Phiona Mutesi, whom some consider to be a mediocre chess player at best. However, given her precarious situation growing up in the slums of Kampala, there's no doubt Phiona's accomplishments should be recognized. There are now many chess clubs throughout Uganda. Chess offers children a chance to develop their reasoning and critical thinking skills, preparing them for the challenges they face in the developing world.