Book Review: What Have You Left Behind? by Bushra Al-Maqtari translated by Sawad Hussain

´My life was so beautiful, but they took it all from me. They´ve killed me. Destroyed me (She cries). But tell me, this was that killed my family, what is it for? Why all this death and destruction? What are they fighting over? What is worth all this death?´

´I´ll never forget, it all ruins through my head like an unending war at sea between the ghosts of those who were afraid of dying and those who mercilessly kill them´.

This year in June I took part at a conference held in Berlin discussing the different aspects of the conflict in Yemen. I am interested in such discussions, comfortably organised in nice locations, in sought-after capital cities like Berlin, London or Vienna. I lost the number of such events I´ve been part of in my life, aimed at discussing at length various prospects of peace in different parts of the world. Although I may not label those encounters completely unuseful, as at least there may be journalists curious enough to search a bit more about the conflict discussed and hopefully touch upon other associated aspects, the voices usually represented in such circumstances usually belong to power brokers, in different relationships with the decision makers (being in opposition or defining oneself as a dissident also means having a certain positioning vis-à-vis the centers of power). Nothing about ´the voice of people´, the direct testimonies of those who are directly affected by the conflict - the orphans whose parents were killed in war, the homeless families whose homes were burned during bombings, the parents whose childred were killed by random bullets.

For almost two years, Yemeni novelist and researcher Bushra Al-Maqtari collected around 400 testimonies from people directly affected by the war between the Houthi Militias supported by Iran and the Arab Coalition. According to various sources, between 200,000 and 300,000 people were killed during the confrontations. The victims do rarely have political allegiances were not killed while fighting, but while playing, eating, spending time with their loved ones. Many of them are children, killed as they were playing outside, or old people unable to run fast enough for their lives. Part of the testimonies are reunited in a collection which was inspired by the work of 2015 Nobel Prize Winner Svetlana Alexievich, soon to be published by Fitzcarraldo Editions, translated by the very talented Sawad Hussain: What Have You Left Behind? 

It is an infinite gesture of humanity to give voices to the nameless victims. This is how we may feel the pain of the war like a dagger deep into our hearts and souls. After every story I needed a break. But I kept reading it, no matter how hard it was to manage my overwhelming feelings because it is the right of the victims to not be forgotten. 

I had a short discussion over the weekend with someone questioning my option of reading ´sad´ stories about a part of the world I don´t have any connection with - no close friends, relatives etc. - instead of enjoying some joyous stories. Knowledge doesn´t make you happy or joyous, but may help understand the world we are in and be aware of the cruel absurdity of wars. There is no end to the cruelty humans can inflict to other humans for all the inhuman reasons in the world. Reading life stories of people who went through war it´s a human exercise in understanding other humans tragic condition. We may not be able to change the world, but at least we know what kind of world we are living in.

Rating: 5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.