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Book Review - A Hope More Powerful Than The Sea ...

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1 Carly Rowden 1065578 IDEV*1000 November 23rd, 2018 A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea Written by Melissa Fleming, A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea is a novel that follows a refugee’s struggle to find freedom and happiness. Based on a true story, it is a narrative of the hardships a particular young woman, Doaa, may go through and the harrowing and deadly events she must overcome to start a new life. Throughout the novel, many factors and concepts that relate to development are outstanding, and helps readers understand the true depths of these concepts. Poverty is a relevant theme seen throughout the novel, as Doaa and her family struggle with this issue in their daily lives. Humanitarian aid is another issue related to development and seen in this novel, as it helps Doaa reunite with her family after her struggle as a refugee fleeing from corruption and unhappiness. Lastly, migration and refuge are arguably the biggest theme seen throughout the novel that relates to development. The whole novel follows Doaa and her family as migrants fleeing their country of Syria from war and terror. Overall, the novel is a compelling story of a refugee and her family, following their struggles and hardships due to inequalities and development issues.

Poverty is an issue that was seen throughout the novel A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea. Although Doaa and her family may not have been living in extreme poverty, they undoubtedly struggled with income for basic necessities such as food. The World Bank Organization describes poverty in this way: “Poverty is hunger, lack of shelter. It is being sick and not being able to see a doctor. It is not having a job, fear for the future, living one day at a

2 time.” (Brunswick, 2010). Doaa and her family face monetary poverty, the indicator being lack of money. Doaa and her family weren’t always struggling with poverty, as Daraa was once a rich and prospering city, “famous for the bounty of fruits and vegetables the land yielded…It was said that the produce of Daraa could feed all of Syria.” (Fleming, 2017, p. 3). It wasn’t until the Syrian revolution of 2011, that the Al Zamels started to see their country deteriorate. Because of the war food and water was scare, and Shorki, Doaa’s father, was only bringing just enough money home to buy little food for his family (Fleming, 2017, p. 73). A year after the revolution had begun, Shorki arrived at his salon, the families only source of income, and found it destroyed by two missiles. The war in Syria pushed 80% of its people into poverty, with just over 4 out of 5 Syrians struggling to meet basic needs to sustain bare life (Guardian, 2015). More and more bad things were happening to the Al Zamel’s, and they knew they had to leave Syria for Egypt. This wasn’t the end of their struggle with poverty. Throughout the novel, Doaa and her family struggled with poverty in ways of not being able to afford housing in Egypt, not being able to afford medical assistance for Hanaa, Doaa’s mother, when she was sick, as well as struggling to find funds that would allow Doaa and her fiancé to flee to safety in Europe. Even when Doaa and her family had enough to survive, they faced relative poverty in the sense that they were inhibited from fully participating in society; not being able to receive an education and more (Fleming, 2017, p.104). Poverty is a major issue seen in development, one that Doaa and her family faced constantly during their time surrounded by the Syrian War. The poverty seen due to the war affected millions of families, as well as Syrian children’s futures. In this circumstance, it would take many years to recover, if even possible, from the depth of poverty in Syria. The novel portrays the real life struggle of poverty, as readers see the inequalities the theme of poverty creates for people like Doaa and families in similar positions as hers.

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Humanitarian Aid is yet another key concept in development, and one seen in the novel A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea. As defined by devinit.org (Development Initiative), humanitarian aid is “intended to save lives, alleviate suffering and maintain human dignity during and after man-made crises…” (Initiatives, 2018). The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a UN-led emergency response program that was mentioned multiple times throughout the novel. Syria’s crisis was a war, a deadly revolution, all created by Syria’s violent government, and their control over the people of Syria (Fleming, 2017, p. 27). That being said, it was inevitable that Syrian’s would get the humanitarian aid and support that they needed during this time. Mentioned in the novel “The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees registered 125,499 Syrian refugees in the country” (Fleming, 2017, p. 93), it was suggested that Syrians were starting to get the help that they needed to escape the violence in their country. Although humanitarian aid efforts for Syria weren’t constantly being mentioned in the novel, they were essential in helping Syrian refugee’s during this time and are also the reason why Doaa was able to reunite with her family and helped them leave Egypt for a better life. After Doaa’s long struggle of survival after being lost at sea, she was given help to relocate to Sweden, where her and her fiancé were planning on settling. Doaa was still separated from her family, but the UNHCR could help. “The UNHCR officer told the family that they were qualified for UNHCR’s resettlement program due to their precarious situation.” (Fleming, 2017, p. 248). Because of humanitarian aid, Doaa was finally able to live the live she deserved in Sweden, reunited with her family, and away from violence and destruction. Humanitarian aid is essential in assisting people in countries that have been destroyed by natural disasters or man-made crisis. It relates to the novel because Doaa was able to start a new life through the efforts of the UNHCR. Syria was

4 facing a huge crisis of war and violence, and without humanitarian aid they would still be completely hopeless. Lastly, two of the most relevant topics relating to development found in this novel, working hand in hand, are migration and refugees. As stated by the UN Refugee Agency, refugees are people outside their country of origin because of feared persecution, conflict, violence, or other circumstances that have severely disturbed public order, and who, as a result, require international protection” (UNHCR, 2016). Doaa and her family are considered refugees because they left Syria to go to Egypt, as they were at risk of violence, persecution, and conflict in their home country (Fleming, 2017). An important sub-concept relating to migration is that of a displaced person. A displaced person is someone who is forced to leave their home or place of habitual residence, and this concept as well as internal displacement were brought up throughout the novel; “Meanwhile, 5 million Syrians, such as Doaa’s family, would be forced to flee across borders, while 6.5 million would be internally displaced, often forced to move several times to other parts of the country where they could find pockets of safety.” (Fleming, 2017, p. 84). The war in Syria was the outstanding reason for the increasing number of refugees during this time. Fleming (2017) mentioned that in the year of 2014, almost every day 42,500 people from Syria became refugees, asylum seekers, or internally displaced. In relation to the novel, Doaa and her family became refugees once they fled to Egypt. Unfortunately for them, they would never be able to live the prosperous life they imagined in Syria and would be reminded every day that they had to seek refuge from their war torn, corrupted country. The war in Syria created the largest refugee and displacement crisis of our time (World Vision, 2018). Although a terrible situation to be in, the topics of refugees and migration helps people understand development, and the impact certain situations have on the world. A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea follows

5 Doaa’s struggle of being a refugee and shines a light on the hardships that refugees across the world are forced to face. In conclusion, the novel A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea, written by Melissa Fleming, does more than capture a young woman’s struggles as a refugee from the warn-torn country of Syria. It teaches lessons of persistence and hope to its readers, while shining a light on the dark events many people in corrupt countries have to face. The true story shows how Doaa transforms from a teenager to a young, powerful woman. The narrative connects to core themes of development, talking about the poverty Doaa and her family struggled with, as well as how humanitarian aid helped them restart and create a new life under the umbrella of safety and security. The novel greatly helped readers understand concepts of migration and refuge, using Doaa’s powerful stories as insights on what refugees have to overcome as they escape terrors in their home countries. A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea uses the real story of Doaa Al Zamel to capture development and inequality issues across to world, in a compelling, eye-opening approach.

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References Brunswick, C. G. (2010, November 25). What is poverty? Retrieved from https://www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/en/departments/esic/overview/content/what_is_poverty. Html Fleming, M. (2017). A hope more powerful than the sea: One refugees incredible story of love, loss, and survival. New York: Flatiron Books. Guardian, T. (2015, March 12). Syria's war: 80% in poverty, life expectancy cut by 20 years, $200bn lost. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/12/syrias-war-80-in-poverty-lifeexpectancy-cut-by-20-years-200bn-lost Initiatives, D. (2018). Defining humanitarian assistance. Retrieved from http://devinit.org/defining-humanitarian-assistance/ UNHCR. (2016, March 16). 'Refugees' and 'Migrants' – Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). Retrieved from https://www.unhcr.org/afr/news/latest/2016/3/56e95c676/refugees-migrants-frequentlyasked-questions-faqs.html World Vision. (2018, November 19). Syrian refugee crisis: Facts, FAQs, and how to help. Retrieved from https://www.worldvision.org/refugees-news-stories/syrian-refugee-crisis-facts

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