Initially separated by her family by the rushing crowds, Ibtisam manages to find her family later that day among the crowds. But this poor little girl, she is unable to lace her shoes. The family rushes to their home, takes a few belongings, and the children are ordered to put on their shoes and be ready to go right then. After a few panicked hours in a water trench in their garden, the family decides to flee their home and join the throngs of rushing refugees that are trying to reach Jordan. As a young girl (maybe three year old), her world is turned completely upside down one day when their father brings home news of the war.
This second part begins on the first day of the six-day war. But our narrator is coming to a time and place in her life where she wants to remember.needs to remember.Īnd thus begins the second part of our story. But that up until now, she’s lived by her mother’s motto that it is better to forget the past. She continues on by saying that her many pen pals world wide are always curious about her childhood. Tears are my secret ink, in the absence of real ink. My true journal is written with no pen or paper, but in my mind, with an invisible hand in the air. I feel that my hand, when deep inside it, reaches out to anyone on the other side of the world who wants to be my friend. I wish I could open my postbox every day. I love to go there, dig the key out of my pocket, turn its neck around, open the door, then slowly let my hand nestle in and linger, even if the box is empty. Having this box is like having a country, the size of a tiny square, all to myself. If I die, the key for the box will be under the ground with me. On the days I don’t go to Birzeit, I bury the key in the dirt under a lemon tree near our house. He left Ramalllah and did not want to give up the box, so he passed it on to me. Post Office 34 is the only place in the world that belongs to me. This is what takes me from Ramallah to Birzeit. But I did not go there to chant for freedom. They chant on the streets that they want freedom from the occupation. In Birzeit, many students become active in politics and have fights with the Israeli army.
Some also come from Gaza, Nablus, and other cities, towns, and refugee camps. The passengers are taken by the soldiers and interrogated before they are finally released to go to their destination: Ramallah.įrom the very beginning, her narrative hooks the reader with its simple yet powerful style:īirzeit is where students go to college after finishing high school in Ramallah. As a young woman, a teen, her bus is stopped by Israeli soldiers.
In this memoir, Ibtisam Barakat provides a framework for sharing her powerful and emotional story. Tasting the Sky: A Palestinian Childhood.
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