A Hope More Powerful Than The Sea

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Such a heart-wrenching beautifully written book about the TRUE story of Syrian Refugee Doaa AlZamel

Genre: YA Nonfiction

Ages: 14 and up

Available: Amazon

price: 12 usd

link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1250106001/ref=as_li_qf_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=muslimmommy0f-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1250106001&linkId=1db80a733883d16dffbd4cfa361847cb

Islamic notes: clean. Doaa is a practicing Muslim and the book highlights the importance of her faith and Quran to her.

Summary: Spoilers⭐️

The book documents Doaa’s young life in Daraa, Syria and her likeable, shy personality. Doaa’s dream is to be a policewoman, but then its 2011 and the government starts killing its own people. The city she wanted to protect previously is destroyed by its own president and his forces, and after threats of assault, Doaa’s dad moves the family to Egypt.

Egypt is safe for a while...until President Morsi is overthrown (he offered Syrians refuge) and the new regime is not kind to them. They are attacked, threatened, and abused. Doaa gets engaged and her fiancee and her decide to escape to Europe. The problem is...they have to use smugglers and rickity boats to get them to Italian shores.

After two failed attempts, they finally make it to the boat. But the trip is long and hard, and when they are finally a day away from Italy, a boat purposely rams into their ship full of 500 men, elderly, women, and children and sinks the whole thing into the sea.

Doaa almost drowns (a huge fear for her) but she manages to pull herself up and her fiancee gives her a baby inflatable ring to wear. Days and days pass and Doaa sees everyone around her get sick and die, including Bassem, her beloved fiancee. She is handed two baby girls and she pushes herself to stay awake to try to keep them alive.

Finally...when Doaa is at her last breath, she is rescued and brought to Italy, and after a year and half is finally reunited with her family in Sweden, where she vows to study law.

This story broke my heart.

It really highlights the dire situations of refugees and how they have no other choice but to risk their lives in order to look for a better future. Doaa highlights the epitome of bravery, love, and hope, even amongst a sea of troubles. The book shows how refugees are regular people seeking to live a normal life.

May Allah bring peace and relief to all those struggling!

Follow @Muslimmommyblog on Instagram and Facebook for more!