A Land of Permanent Goodbyes

Having said a painful goodbye to their father, Tareq and Susan travel with other refugees in a van. The smugglers are taking them closer to the coast, where the “boats” (small dinghies) will be waiting. They arrive by the seaside and are told to wait. Susan falls asleep. Tareq meets Najiba and Jamila, two young sisters from Afghanistan. They recognize that Tareq is there with his sister and “not a threat, unlike the many men they’d met along their journey” (148).

They must speak English together, as Tareq doesn’t speak Dari, and they don’t speak Arabic. The girls hope to get to Germany, where they have an aunt. They are fleeing the repressive Taliban in Afghanistan. Unlike Tareq, they have no concept of a life with peace. Tareq can’t believe that their country has been at war nonstop for over 40 years. The girls were born refugees in Pakistan. They returned to Afghanistan when the US entered, thinking it would be safe—but it wasn’t, especially for women. After some conversation, Tareq and the young women try to rest.

The sun comes up, and Tareq can see the mountains of Greece across the sea. Destiny describes the sight: “The water glistened, soft, tranquil and yet dazzling—summoning the desperate like a siren song calling for Odysseus (a man I crossed paths with years ago)” (153). Tareq is nervous and thinks of Salim, having one of his imaginary conversations with his brother to calm his nerves.

Najiba and Jamila wake up, as does Susan. Tareq introduces the Afghan girls to his sister. Then, it’s time to go. Tareq puts Susan in her life jacket. The man at the shop told him it would work and that it was stuffed with foam, not paper—a cheap trick some vendors use to sell jackets that won’t float. There is one dinghy for the Syrian refugees and one for the Afghan refugees. Tareq says goodbye to the sisters and, as he does, realizes he’s developed a crush on Jamila. For the first time in his life, he has butterflies in his stomach.

Tareq takes Susan, and they go to the shore to wait with the other Syrian refugees. They watch as the Afghan boat is loaded first. It’s overcrowded and shaky. The smugglers force them on; one of them is using a pistol, threatening people who don’t get onto the raft. Jamila is the last to board, but then a Turkish smuggler pulls her back; he clearly wants to keep her with him. Tareq wants to help, but a man standing next to him holds him back. Luckily, the Afghan smuggler speaks with the Turkish smuggler and gets Jamila from him. He then brings Jamila over to the Syrians. She will ride with them. Tareq assures her that they will find Najiba once they arrive in Greece. The Syrian boat is loaded, and the smuggler pushes them off, saying, “You’re all in God’s hands now. And the sea’s” (163).

Tareq, Jamila, and Susan begin their boat journey across the Aegean Sea to Greece. Everybody onboard is panicked but trying to stay calm. Tareq notices with horror that they have a Chinese-made boat—supposedly the least reliable model. One man on the boat suggests that they sink on purpose so that the Coast Guard is forced to rescue them; others point out that the Turkish Coast Guard is just as likely to rescue them as the Greek, in which case they’ll simply be brought back to Turkey.

As they continue, the Turkish Coast Guard tries to stop them. A father on board gets them to leave by dangling his own baby over the edge of the boat, threatening to drop it. Later, the boat is letting on water, so everyone on board gets rid of non-essential items, trying to decrease the weight. The boat continues to lose so much water that the men on board who can swim get in the water and push while women and children stay aboard. The old man next to Tareq in the water—the same one who saved them from the Turkish Coast Guard—dies, presumably of hypothermia. His wife then becomes hysterical and jumps in the water and, unable to swim, drowns. Their baby, still on the boat, will arrive in Greece an orphan.

Destiny offers another interlude in Chapter 21, reflecting on the two parts of humanity—helpers versus hunters: “Helpers come in many forms. As do the hunters” (180). A helper might be a nurse, for example, or a man holding the door open for a mother lugging her child. A hunter can be a killer, a rapist, or a man who lets a door slam in the face of a mother lugging her child. Destiny ultimately distinguishes helping versus hurting as to whether the action made someone’s life better or worse.