Hello Journal it is me, Jabar. It seems like so long since I last wrote and I hope I am forgiven but you must understand it is dangerous for a boy my age, merely 17, and of my lowly, impoverished status to be seen writing so naturally. Where did I leave off? Oh yes, I had just finished the first part of my journey where I, a poor tanners son, was the only on to escape our village alive after it was caught in a storm of fire from those Soviet "helicopters" trying to drive the insurgents from hiding. Why where are my manners? I have forgotten to place the date. It is currently the 6th of Dhu al-Hijjah, only two days until the rituals of the Hajj are meant to begin. Now you must wonder why I am taking this most holy of pilgrimages all alone and that is for after the attack on my village, I was the sole survivor and the only place left I could turn was to Allah. However, I am not alone for several hundred most likely share similar stories of grief as mine. Though many of our ranks are saddened by our loses, other rejoice at their own gains. What a mixed crowed we are!
I have traversed the great distance from the western most border of Arghanistan, were the war is raging, all the way to holy Mecca, all for the Hajj. I had planned to make this journey anyway before but instead with my family. I plan to perform all parts of the Hajj, of course, for one cannot simply take part in some of it and neglect the other portions. My position in this world is half a day's walk from Mecca so I should arrive in good time. The journey was long and tiresome for these lands, though once more fertile, now mainly resemble barren wastelands.
Two days in the past, after traversing a portion of Saudi Arabia while trailing a much larger pilgrim group, I stumbled onto yet another camp. When I was first noticed some man thought I had come to beg and must have been furious before for he began to release his wrath upon me. Fortunately another, slightly older man with a long, black beard rushed and pulled the other off of me. The one who beat me must have surely respected or feared the other man for he, with a few harsh words, sent the beater off with his tail between his legs. My food fortune did not end there, no it did not, for my savior then offered me his hand, to stay with him and his wife, food, and for me to travel with them. This was more than I had ever wanted from this journey! So I have traveled with them for the past couple of days and they seem to be taking a liking to
me, as I them. Maybe, just possibly, after the Hajj they might bring me back home with them. This plan Allah and fate set out for me was first ridden with grief but His children are never forgotten in the end. Now I look forward to the Hajj with a new joy rather than mourning. 