Amina – a Story Through the Eyes of a Somali Girl

aminaI found Amina in the collection of an American library in a city that’s now home to one of the largest communities of Somali-Americans, Lewiston, Maine. The Somali girls of Lewiston and of every city and town will find an extraordinary role model of spirit and talent in J.L. Powers young protagonist. The eponymous Amina is growing up in Mogadishu. Her story is one of the “Through My Eyes” series published in Australia.

Amina, a young street artist, lives under al-Shabaab violence but continues to paint symbols of freedom in public places. Her father, also an artist, is betrayed and murdered by al-Shabaab soldiers for his art, called “anti-Islamic.” Her brother is abducted.The year is 2012 when, during a time of hunger, African Union Mission replaced al-Shabaab fighters in the control of the city. In Power’s author’s note she writes that in 2012 Somalia experienced a renaissance; hope for an end to direct conflict existed. Many forms of traditional culture, outlawed by al-Shabaab, began to re-emerge, including art.

Amira endures through the loss of her father, her mother’s illness, suspicions among neighbors. Powers creates a teenage girl who does not know who is trustworthy in her life in a city at war. She has become the family’s source of support. In a series of tense scenes Amina must decide between buyers in the market for a piece of art she knows is outlawed but her only source of money and food for her family.

Through the depiction of life under al-Shabaabs’ violence against civilians, Powers threads the story of the creative spirit of a girl who carries on the life force of art as her father had done.

Powers author’s note also tells her experience with Somali people, from working with Somali children who had fled to Nairobi in the 1990s, to her new California neighbors, Somali-Americans who had gained refugee status and been resettled. Ayeeyo, Amina’s grandmother counsel’s her with what must be true for many refugees. “This is your city, your country,” Ayeeyo said. “All of this – the good and the bad. We are your family. You can never leave Somalia – even if you don’t live here, it’s with you, wherever you go in the world.”

Amina has been named a 2016 Outstanding International Book by the US Board of Books for Young People.

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