Abbas Nazari was born in Afghanistan, and knew little about the world beyond his village. After having watched the Taleban creep ever closer, wiping out anyone who they believed 'represented a violation of the model Islamic society' such as his own Hazara people, Abbas'sfather made the desperate decision to take his family and flee their home.
The family of seven (the youngest child still a baby) travel, at great personal risk, first to Pakistan, then to Indonesia, Abbas's father calling upon colleagues, old friends and acquaintances sympathetic to their plight along the way. They manage to secure passage on a boat that will take them to Christmas Island, if they can get there, and claim refugee status, the Australian government has to listen. The boat is not seaworthy and is desperately overcrowded. It manages to just about make it through a terrifyingly violent storm, and then drifts.
Abbas describes the crowded boat and the danger its passengers (including children and pregnant women) are in vividly so that the reader can place themselves there — sickness, malnutrition, frayed tempers and then a storm that blows apart any protection they have from the elements. But even this is not the worst of it.
Against all odds, a Norwegian cargo ship, the Tampa, comes to their aid and after some confusing conversations with the Indonesian and Australian authorities, and negotiations with the refugees, the captain heads for Christmas Island. What happens then is such a travesty of human rights abuses that it'll leave you fuming.
The Nazari family, among other survivors, are eventually offered refugee status in New Zealand and settle in Christchurch. For an Afghani seven year old who had no electricity and slept on the roof in the summer, this is a culture shock – a new world of television and trampolines opens up. His community is diverse, full of immigrants who are working hard to make the most of the opportunities they have been given, but there are still those who do not accept them, as we come to see when Abbas describes the events of March 15, 2019.
How Abbas and his family survive, are accepted into Aotearoa by Helen Clark's government, and eventually thrive will leave you gobsmacked, inspired, ashamed at the racism, and warmed by the kindness. He relates his story with good humour, gratitude and the hopefulness that characterises his writing. Reading it is a humbling experience, a timely reminder to maintain perspective when things seem hard.
