A Church Anew Book Series: Interview With Stephanie Saldaña, Author of “What We Remember Will Be Saved”
Photo by Kyle Glenn on Unsplash
Church Anew is delighted to continue a series that celebrates the books and contributions of leaders in our community. While we can’t share every book or article or milestone, feel free to nominate someone or some piece that you know by emailing support@churchanew.org. Pastor Eric Shafer has led a storied career across the church and is interviewing authors in this recurring feature. This week, we are happy to present Eric’s interview with Stephanie Saldaña about her new book, “What We Remember Will Be Saved.”
Please share a short summary of your book.
What We Remember Will Be Saved tells the stories of six women and men who are forced to escape war in Iraq and Syria and who carry the worlds that they left behind with them when they flee. A woman named Hana sews the story of her Aramaic- speaking city into a dress. A young man named Ferhad saves the songs of his Kurdish community. Munir saves his goodness after escaping the violence of Mosul; helping ordinary people in a camp in Lesvos. Adnan and Ghadir, two pharmacists from Aleppo, rebuild their pharmacy in the ruins of war. And Qassem, a Yazidi from Mt. Sinjar, rescues his family on a mountain, and then saves the story of what happened so that it will never be forgotten. Together, their stories paint a portrait of a religiously and culturally diverse corner of the Middle East disappearing, and the people saving it with their stories. Each voice puts us in front of an essential question: What is the deepest part of ourselves, the one thing that can never be taken from us?
Why did you write this book?
I lived in Syria before the war, and so it means a great deal to me. It was in Syria that I learned Arabic, made friends, studied diverse faiths, and decided to give my life to writing about the Middle East. When the war broke out in 2011, I realized as I watched the news that few of the stories, I saw captured the beauty, creativity, and resilience of the Syrian and Iraqi people I know. I decided to travel around the globe and listen to the stories of Iraqis and Syrians, for these hidden historians to witness what they saved in their own words so that the world could hear an alternate, more personal history. I wanted to read an account of the war in which they were not only victims but survivors, agents in history saving the past in order to carry it into the future.
You share many moving stories of Middle East war refugees in your book, can you briefly share one story here?
Many readers connect with Adnan and Ghadir, a married couple who owned a pharmacy in Aleppo during the war. Early in the fighting, their pharmacy is destroyed, and they are displaced, forced to move with their two children to an empty house on the other side of the city. As the war advances and their neighbors struggle to find medicine, they decide to rebuild their pharmacy in the garage. But, since they don’t have money, they must look into the ruins of the city and find within it the materials to build something new. Ghadir calls this the “eyes of creation.” It is a story about the power of the imagination, and about finding hope in the ruins. In time, people from far away come to visit their pharmacy, seeking the “medicine of compassion” they need.
"The dress" is a very important "character" in your book - please share a little about the importance of "the dress.”
At the beginning of my journey, I meet Hana, a Christian from Qaraqosh in Iraq, whose community was displaced when ISIS invaded in 2014. When she knew that she could never go home again, she decided to sew the story of her city into a dress. When I saw it, I was stunned, for wishing it she had saved her entire world: her Aramaic language, her churches, her father’s fields, her faith, her wedding dances, and a faded line marking her exile. As I listened to the story of her dress over months and followed it back to Iraq, I slowly confronted the fact that every displaced person is a world. Every person who dies in war is a world lost. Every human being who reaches safety is a world saved, surviving to love, to treasure and be treasured, and to transmit the stories of the past to future generations.
What would you like the reader to take away from this book?
I would like the reader to feel like they know each and every character in the book. And in fact, that’s what I’ve heard from reader after reader who has connected with the stories. Pharmacy students have told me how Adnan and Ghadir’s story of rebuilding a pharmacy in wartime has inspired them to be better pharmacists. Students tell me that Hana’s dress has helped them to see the humanity behind the numbers when they read the news. Musicians have told me how Ferhad’s story of saving his music has helped them to connect with the healing power of song. I’ve spoken in churches and universities about how Munir can teach us how to serve others. And readers have told me that Qassem helped them to remember the power of family. Many people have never met refugees personally— I hope that this book allows them to meet them through these pages and learn from them.
Who should read this book?
This book is for everyone. Today, one in every 69 people on earth is forcibly displaced. I want readers to experience the reality that refugees are teachers and students, artists and musicians, farmers and chefs. Young people have been touched by the book, as it has helped them to learn that their classmates, teachers, and neighbors have migration stories. It has inspired them to speak to their grandparents about their family stories. Lawyers have read the book to understand the struggles of clients seeking asylum. Church communities have read the book to prepare for welcoming refugee families into their towns. I am especially touched when refugees and migrants themselves read the book and let me know how much they see their own journeys reflected. At this moment, when refugees and migrants are being demonized, it is our duty to read new stories so that we can find the vocabulary to articulate a better common story, one of belonging and shared humanity.
Rev. Eric Shafer
The Rev. Eric C. Shafer is a regular contributor to Church Anew and serves as “Pastor in Residence” for Global Refuge - www.globalrefuge.org - which is now in its 85th year serving immigrants and refugees. He has served ELCA congregations in Pennsylvania and California and was the ELCA’s Communication Director, a synod bishop’s assistant, and an interfaith communication executive. He and his wife, Kris, live at Pilgrim Place in Claremont, California.
