Spilled Ink, page 24
Here’s the happy truth at the heart of this story. Very often, people are building bridges and helping strangers with total disregard for what makes us different. During Operation Allies Welcome, when tens of thousands of Afghan evacuees were being received and resettled across the United States, I had a chance to see just how welcoming we can be. Both working on a mental health program for evacuees and in my interactions with community groups, I was astounded by the generosity of spirit. Volunteers gathered to set up new homes, assemble furniture, and stock refrigerators. Case managers took on the very daunting task of guiding fresh starts in a new country. Attorneys provided pro bono legal services. Afghan Americans offered to translate for strangers, and doctors organized vaccine clinics to get newly arrived children ready for school. Mental health providers eased distressed minds, and veterans advocated on behalf of the Afghans who fought shoulder to shoulder with them against a common enemy. Teachers have signed up for trainings that would help them to connect with their new Afghan students. People have shown up in creative and vital ways to ease a difficult transition.
I’m proud to have served on the board of the Afghan-American Foundation and the leadership council of Welcome.US, two organizations that have been at the heart of advocacy and welcoming efforts. Little would have been accomplished without the many allies, organizations, and individuals who have banded together to help newly arrived families. Resettlement is a long game with evolving needs.
Just as spilled ink cannot be recovered, some harm cannot be undone. We are imperfect creatures and too often approach others with assumptions and stereotypes, stigmas and hesitation. But we are also all artists in a way, creating our stories and drawing connections. We are continually evolving beings at every stage of our lives and judgment can give way to grace.
There’s plenty of ink left in the bottle.
Acknowledgments
No one gets this far without many to thank. I will surely fail to name everyone because so many hands, seen and unseen, help usher a story into the world. I’m deeply grateful to Rosemary Brosnan, a gracious and keen-eyed editor. Reading over your comments with a cup of coffee is a dreamy way to spend any day. To my agent, Sarah Heller, and the team at the Helen Heller Agency, thank you for the brainstorming and the encouragement every step of the way. To Marsh Agency, thank you for helping share these stories with readers around the world. And to the incredible team at Quill Tree Books and HarperCollins Children’s Books, this story would be quite naked and raw without your expertise and creative energies. Thank you to Courtney Stevenson, Alexandra Rakaczki, Joel Tippie, Meghan Pettit, Allison Brown, Patty Rosati and her team, and Audrey Diestelkamp. Thank you to Muhammad Mustafa for the compelling cover illustration.
I can’t possibly name all the book clubs I’ve connected with over the years, but please know you have a special place in my heart and my calendar. These conversations, in which someone inevitably asks me what I’m working on, keep me writing. Thank you for your patience and your impatience. Shout-out to the Physician Mom Book Club, a Facebook community like no other. I’m ever grateful to the people, especially the newly arrived, who shared their personal experiences with me. No specific individual is depicted in this book, but the challenges they described are part of Nahal’s story.
To my children, who interrupt sentences mid-construction and can’t find their jersey and need to report what a sibling has done, thank you. Thank you for asking me when you’ll be able to read this book and for sharing these stories with your friends and teachers. Thank you for wanting to know what the story is about, for joining me in celebrating our culture and other cultures, for growing and learning with me, and for inspiring parts of stories. Zoran, your line made it into this one and I hope you’ll keep spinning words into verse. We can talk about your compensation now. Zayla, my thoughtful reader, this one’s ready for you now. Thank you for giving me permission to share the story of the substitute teacher “welcoming” you into class as if you had just trekked here from a foreign country. So proud of how you handle this messy world. Kyrus and Cyra, my exploring duo. Thank you for the tight hugs and for making me laugh each and every day.
A heart full of gratitude to my parents, for saving the day. Every day. To the Amini clan, my chosen family, you brighten my days with your love, and I’m lucky to have you.
And to Amin, for insisting on these stories, for the thoughtful journey, for the curbside neurosurgical guidance on this story, and for (literally) building with me a home that reflects and celebrates us, all my love.
About the Author
Photo by Chris Carter Photography
NADIA HASHIMI is a pediatrician turned international bestselling novelist and daughter of Afghan immigrants. Nadia is the author of four books for adults, as well as the middle grade novels One Half from the East and The Sky at Our Feet. She lives with her family in the Washington, DC, suburbs. Visit her online at nadiahashimibooks.com.
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Books by Nadia Hashimi
One Half from the East
The Sky at Our Feet
Spilled Ink
Copyright
Quill Tree Books is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
SPILLED INK. Copyright © 2024 by Nadia Hashimi. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins Publishers.
Cover art © 2024 by Muhammad Mustafa
Cover design by Joel Tippie
Library of Congress Control Number: 2023943575
Digital Edition JUNE 2024 ISBN: 978-0-06-306051-7
Print Edition ISBN: 978-0-06-306049-4
first edition
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Nadia Hashimi, Spilled Ink
