President Trump and the Plight of Refugees

Once again, President Trump has disgusted us and made us feel ashamed to be Americans. This time, it was his racist remarks about people from predominantly non-white countries. Why can’t we have more people from countries like Norway [a very white country], he asked.

A counter-point to Trump’s racism is the book A Time of Miracles by Anne-Laure Bondoux. I read this gem after it was suggested by a group on Goodreads endeavoring to read books from every country in the world.

A Time of Miracles by Anne-Laure Bondoux is a young adult novel that has won literary prizes – the Prix Sorcieres in France and the Mildred L. Batchelder Honor Book in the United States. Anne-Laure Bondoux is without a doubt deserving of these honors.

My horizons were expanded by reading her book and learning of the existence of Abkhazia tucked away in the Caucasus Mountains, a part of the former Soviet Union. It’s a place to which I’m sure I’ll never travel. Reading a book to learn about its inhabitants is the next best thing after visiting there, meeting Abakhazians here, or watching an episode of it on House Hunters International.

A Time of Miracles starts in 1992 shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Blaise Fortune aka Koumail, a seven- year old boy, is with his protector Gloria. In the face of war, they have fled their home determined to get to France where they are sure they’ll have a good, peaceful life imbued with Liberte, Egalite, et Fraternite.

Blaise has been told the story of his early life by Gloria so often that it has become a litany. She took him from the arms of his dying mother after a train wreck. His mother was a French citizen and so is he and thus, he is entitled to live in France. Blaise believes this story – to a point - but something always feels like it’s missing.

Gloria and Blaise travel together from refugee camp to refugee camp. They get involved with smugglers who take them on legs of their journey on the backs of trucks. They walk endlessly on their own, through forests and deserts. They survive malnutrition and many times are on the verge of starvation. The reader learns little of Abkhasia but much about the plight of all refuges everywhere trying to survive from pillar to post until they make it to safe havens.

I am glad that Anne-Laure Bondoux has written this book for teenagers and middle school students. Nevertheless, it’s a story that adults must know also. We all have to be aware of the plight of refugees. Only by knowing about what refugees experience will we understand how vital it is for all of us to do our best to prevent more people from joining their ranks. Read A Time of Miracles now. It tells a story that we all need to hear.