Two young Ethiopian girls grow past their antagonism in this powerful story of refugees who flee a drought-and-violence-stricken land. The only survivors of a massacred family, Sahay, a catholic girl, and her uncle, set out for Sudan. Joining them, to Sahay's dismay, are a band of Ethiopian Jewish people, the "Falasha" or "strangers", that Sahay has been taught to fear and despise. With the group is Rahel, blind and accompanied only by her brother. After a grueling, danger-filled journey, the group's men are turned back at the border. The barrier between Sahay and Rahel falls when, moved by compassion, Sahay becomes Rahel's guide. Then, Rahel learns of a plan to go to Israel and convinces Sahay to pretend to be her sister. After an extreme and terrifying journey, they reach a Red Cross camp in the Sudan where they search for other survivors from their region. There, they are certain they will die from sickness or malnutrition. The inner strength Rahel draws from her flute, a small bag of Ethiopian soil, and especially, her grandmother's necklace helps both girls survive the terror, despair, anger, and grief of being uprooted. Ultimately, Sahay realizes that Rahel and her people are no longer "strangers", and they escape to Jerusalem in a clandestine Israeli airlift.

teaching cultural diversity to children.

that although the girls came from different backgrounds where they were raised with different stories and different beliefs, they took what they were taught and what they learned from one another and eventually made their own judgments about what they believed or how they behaved.

incorporate the book into my classroom.

I think children would gain so much from the experiences of the girls. In today’s society, children are not brought up with enough exposure to other cultures and how other children from different areas (countries) grew up.

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Created Sep 15, 2003 at 9:10am • Submit your own review...