Friend #14

Friend #14 came to the United States from Somalia about ten years ago with her children. Ashka has eight children and brought them all to safety when warfare broke out. Her youngest was only a year old at the time. One would think that escaping war with a year-old baby would be terrible. It turned out that this baby saved the family's life more than once.
There were three instances where Ashka's family was confronted by soldiers. First, soldiers demanded money when they found Ashka's family fleeing, otherwise they'd kill the family. They had no money, but they did have a baby. The soldiers had an unwritten rule that they will not kill a child who could not yet walk. (Apparently that would be crossing the line to these men.) It was because of this child that the family was allowed to live and arrive in a safe area of Somalia.
The family established themselves in new land. Although still not well off, they had 100 goats and 100 sheep. This year-old baby, now five, was put in charge of herding the 200 heads, feeding them, and sheering the sheep. Once again, soldiers demanded money or they would go to the house and kill the family. This time they still had no money so the child and her older brother offered up 10 heads. The soldiers warned her that they would return whenever they wanted more goats or sheep. This little girl didn't tell Ashka what had happened until years later.
Five years after this incident, the family got word that their opportunity to come to the United States had arrived. They would be refugees. In the refugee camp, the little girl, now nine, had learned English and a few other languages. Being the youngest of Ashka's (now six) children, she was the only child allowed to go to school at the camp.
Ashka's daughter has saved her mother many times in their ten years here. She helped her find an apartment, a job, and a new life. Ashka's daughter is now in my ELL class, and I had no idea how much she had gone through until Ashka came in to introduce herself.
Next time I think my five-year-old is too young to help unload the dishwasher, I'll remember that there are kids herding goats and keeping their families from getting executed in the world.