As Long As The Lemon Trees Grow
As long as the Lemon trees grow is a powerful book to inform people about the events happening in Syria. It is a story about love for one’s country. The story revolves around a young girl “Salama” who was studying to be a pharmacist before the revolution took place. But now, she is volunteering as a doctor in the nearby and the only hospital in Homs. She has no one in her family left except for her sister-in-law Layla, and Khwaf who happens to be the imagination of her creation. She is engulfed with fear daily, imagining the worst-case scenario thanks to Khwaf. Her father and brother Hamza were taken away by the government for participating in the revolution. Being taken by the government meant only two things: either they were tortured every day until the day they died, or they had already been killed. The family wished for the latter. Before being taken away by the government, Hamza made Salama promise to keep their mom, herself, and Layla, his wife safe. She lost her mother during one of the bombings which turned their home into rubble. And now she is desperate to find a way out of her beloved country before her best friend and sister-in-law, Layla, gives birth. Salama learns about Am helping Syrians who want to leave the Revolutionary War. Her sister-in-law Layla talks to Salama about leaving behind Syria. Salama hesitates because she is only one of two doctors Homs has. She is torn between loyalty to her country and her will to survive. However, the bombing near her house scares her for the safety of Layla and her unborn child. She wants to find a way to get out of Syria before Layla gives birth. She is reminded of the promise she made to her brother on the day he was taken away. She meets Am to talk about leaving Syria. He asks for a ridiculous amount of money for two people. Salama is angry at Am for using people's sufferings to make money but she must contend with him as it was the only way she and Layla might finally breathe free. The guy comes rushing to the hospital with her daughter who has been one of the victims of the recent bombing. As her desperation to save Layla grows, then and there Khwaf tells her to use this situation to her advantage. She sets a deal with Am that she will treat his daughter if he decides to lower the boat price for her. He couldn’t believe what she had proposed and looked at her with disbelief. Salama then reminds him that he is doing the same thing or even worse as he is using people’s desperation to be alive to make money by charging immoderate amounts of money to get them out of the country. He agrees but continues to remind her how evil of a person she is for using such a situation to her advantage. Through the events, she ends up meeting Kenan whom she was supposed to meet for marriage before the revolution began. She is drawn by the familiarity of Kenan, but she can't remember where she had seen him before or if he was another one of her imaginations. Khwaf makes her doubt her every decision, every choice, and everything she doesn’t want to worry about. She worries about Kenan and his two little siblings and the trauma they hold because of the revolutions. Kenan's little brother had stopped talking since the day their parents were killed during one of the bombings. She learns about Kenan’s love for Studio Ghibli movies and his wish to become an animator in the future. He makes her happy, and seeing him she starts imagining what would have happened had they met in a different circumstance where she would be able to tell him about all the plants and their medicinal values and talk about her hectic days at the hospital. She starts building this beautiful world with him in her imagination. Later she finds out he was supposed to be at her house to meet her. His mom had met Salama during her brother’s Walima and liked her for her son Kenan. Their mom had set up a meeting arrangement where Kenan and Salama could meet each other. She had seen Kenan’s picture and had liked it. Layla had even made fun of her and she remembers being all shy while looking at Kenan's picture. But before they could ever meet the revolution started, they were torn apart from their families not knowing whether they were dead or alive. Kenan was shooting the revolution videos and uploading them on YouTube. Salama fears for his safety because supporting the revolution in any way meant going against the government and the only outcome for that was torture or death. Khwaf tries to plant the seed of doubt in Salama’s heart against Kenan. But since they were around the same age and going through similar trauma, she decided to trust him. Later Kenan tells her that they were supposed to meet and supposedly could have been married.