Jonny: 3/26: The Story Of My Life by Farah Ahmedi

Farah Ahmedi is an immigrant from Afghanistan and a junior in high school. This book is her story thus far, and it is beautiful. I started reading it on an airplane last weekend, and I believe I had tears in my eyes a quarter of the way to L.A. (although those might have been tears of joy that my Southwest flight was on time and not overcrowded). The story moves quickly as Ms. Ahmedi describes stepping on a land mine while walking to second grade, her receipt of a prosthesis in Germany, and her return to Kabul in time to see the Taliban drive the mujadeen out. Her writing is the candid, unpretentious writing of a teenager who has endured great hardship, and the reader cannot help but be moved when she relates the loss of her family and the decision to flee to Pakistan with her shell-shocked mother, the only person she has left in the world.

Ms. Ahmedi tells of how she and her mother got the opportunity to come to the U.S. as refugees, and the great difficulties they suffered through to get here, as well as the ones they faced after they arrived. She goes out her her way to give thanks to the kind strangers who helped her out at critical moments in her life, and her humility and gratitude are very endearing. The reader is left with a renewed awareness of how hard life can be, and how much some of the immigrants around us have endured. This is a beautiful book, and I intend to write the author and thank her for sharing her story.

Incidentally, this book is the product of Good Morning America's essay contest and Ms. Ahmedi's story was selected from among hundreds to be the one published.