Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 3 2018 | Page 31

Journey to freedom in the west
Creative Secondary School, Abu Khaleel, Maryam - 14
I
n the first refugee camp that Ahed could remember living in, one of the volunteer women was Chinese.
China’s youth volunteer corps had been sending medical volunteers to refugee camps throughout Africa
and the Middle East. Xu Hui used to round up all the young children and tell them little snippets of
stories from Journey to the west, from start to finish, especially highlighting the humor and thrilling
moments of victory. Ahed enjoyed them immensely. She came to every session once she knew of it and she
clung to them like a lifeline.
Xu Hui had taken a liking to her after noticing that she had been coming to every session, and occasionally
pulled her over to chat with her after the sessions, mostly to discuss which parts Ahed liked the most in the
story she had told that particular day. Sometimes Xu Hui would tell her a story that she hadn’t told in the
story time sessions, specially told only for her.
Perhaps the reason she clung to them so much was because these stories were one of the only sources of
childhood delight she could have while on the run.
Though Xu Hui left the particular camp after only 2 months of staying there, Ahed remembered the woman
and her stories vividly. The day she left, the children who came to her sessions all surrounded her and
hugged her, one by one. Some of them were bawling, with tears rolling down their cheeks, while others
were visibly trying not to cry. Xu Hui herself was sobbing as she tried to hug and give an individual
goodbye to everyone there.
Ahed was the last one left- when Xu Hui saw her, she pulled her away from the group, and pulled her into
a fierce hug. Ahed immediately reprociated the hug with an even tighter grip, wetting Xu Hui’s shirt with
her tears. When Xu Hui pulled away, she reached into her bag and pulled out a small book with ‘Tales of
Journey to the West’ scrawled on top of a drawing of all the main cast, with Sun Wukong at the head.
Xu Hui pressed the book into her small hands. She leaned forward and whispered into Ahed’s ear, “When
things get hard, just think of the stories. Never let what is happening to you ever make you lose your
happiness. Stay safe, Ahed.” She hugged Ahed one last time, then walked back and made arrangements to
leave.
That was the last time Ahed had ever seen her. Soon afterwards, she and her family also left that camp.
Unlike the group of Journey to the West, Ahed and her family- mother, father and little brother- were not
a band of beings that included various fantastical creatures nor did they fight mythical creatures with magical
skills. Their family had been refugees for as long as she could remember, and even her grandparents had had
similar stories to them, fleeing from Haifa to Nablus. Later on they had to move to Deraa and from there
they finally ended up in the Ain el-Hilweh camp in Lebanon.
Maybe they were a bloodline cursed to never have a homeland.
But like the group, they were journeying west to seek something that both groups desperately need. The
Xuanzang group to retrieve the true scriptures from the Lord Buddha in order to fulfill the wishes of their
elders. And for the refugees - her family- they were journeying west in order to survive, to pick up the
broken pieces of their lives and try to move on.
Like the characters of Journey to the West, their futures depended on this journey. For the group of ancient
legends, they received a request from a divine being, and so they completed it. Xuanzang was fated to lead
this quest, and Monkey, Pig and Friar Sand were required to complete this quest after giving a promise to
Xuanzang in exchange for freedom from their respective imprisonments. For the struggling family, the quest
was to safety, through all means possible. As to whether they manage to reach the west and how far into the
west they go, it will affect the rest of their lives, what jobs they can take up, schools the children go to, if
they are even able to integrate into the country as refugees.