In honor of “Coming Together in Skokie,” Niles West English classes are reading Children of War: Voices of Iraqi Refugees by Deborah Ellis to celebrate the Assyrian culture.

The novel focuses on young Iraqi fugitives telling their story through a translator. These powerful stories help to open its readers’ eyes to political and policy decisions that have been negatively affecting Middle Eastern families for quite sometime. It’s evident that the families that are being affected by these bigger decisions have had no say in what has been going on in their countries, which is exactly what led to the horrific events in the first place.

To Ellis, her novel was about more than just telling these children’s’ stories. It was about sending a message that children are just as important as adults. They are, after all, the future of the country.

“What an incredible tragedy it would be if we somehow no longer had access to [children’s] brains,” she said, “we don’t know what you’re capable of, and it could be something great, so when we kill a couple hundred kids, or disallow them education, it’s a crime. Not only is it a tragedy, it’s a crime.”

According to Ellis, younger children did not understand the true horrors of the war. Ellis spent lots of time in the Middle East, particularly Afghanistan, to get enough information for her novel. While there, she interviewed several young children, including a young boy by the name of Layce.

“I didn’t understand why the Americans were dropping bombs on us, and I thought we should tell them that we were there so that they would drop the bombs somewhere else,” he said.

What many of us may not realize is that these events are real, and they impact more people than just the first party. Within the walls of our school, we have dozens of fugitives from Middle Eastern countries, including sophomore Sarah Al Asali and senior Frank Yaqu, who have suffered from the exact situations that Ellis has tried to prevent through her novel.

When Yaqu first heard about the fateful say of September 11, 2001, he was at home with his grandmother. He was too young to fully understand what had happened, but he does remember wondering how people could be so judgmental of all Middle Easterns because of one incident.

As for their stories, Al Asali arrived in America a little over a year ago when she was 14 years old. She remembers her uncle being kidnapped and beaten in Iraq, which eventually led to her family moving to Jordan in order to take care of his injuries. While in Jordan, the family decided to also apply for American citizenship. The Al Asali family had to wait for four months before their application was accepted.

“We wanted to move here for a better future and to feel safe. School was dangerous to go to because of the war,” she said.

Both Yaku and Al Asali remember bombs constantly going off very close to their homes.

“After a while, you get used to it,” said Yaku, “I would walk outside and a bomb would go off and it was no big deal. I saw people die and it was like a normal thing.”

Like Al Asali, Yaku has also escaped the dangers of his home country through  family oriented events. Iraqi officials had told his mother that she had to wear a hijab, a traditional Muslim headdress or be put to death. After that incident, Yaku was almost kidnapped, which is what made him able to relate to Children of War. He claims that that story wasn’t surprising, but sad. The kidnapping that Yaku narrowly escaped was the last straw for the his family, who have now been living in America for a little over four years.

Now that both Yaku and Al Asali are living happily in America, their dreams to become something in life are enhanced. Al Asali hopes to become a dermatologist, while Yaku’s goal is to have a career related to engineering or astronomy.

The perils that these young children have gone through are emphasized through a documentary filmed in 2003 entitled Museum of Exile that featured about eight students from Niles West.

Peter Iskander, who graduated in 2009, was featured in the documentary. Peter is an Assyrian from Iraq who went through a 13 year process to move to America because of the worsening situation of the war.

“I’ve never done a documentary before,” he said, “but it was nice to tell the story of what we had to go through.”

Today, Peter is studying pharmacy at Oakton Community College.

Both Children of War and Museum of Exile show how international dispute affects more than just the government. Ellis believes that we can create a better way to solve international dispute without wars.

“I believe very strongly that we are smart, creative, and strong enough to do this,” she said.