The Bicycle: How an Act of Kindness Changed a Young Refugee’s Life by Patricia McCormick & Mevan Babakar & Art by Yas Imamura
This is a simple story of a little girl, Mevan, who loves her home in Kurdistan, Iraq. The food. The nature. The family. The community. Then, one day, due to ethnic and political persecution, her family flees. First, they go to Turkey. They are turned away. Then, they go to Azerbaijan. There, they can’t stay. They move on to Russia and still don’t find refuge. Each move makes Mevan feel smaller and smaller, till one day she feels invisible. When they are welcomed in the Netherlands, Mevan watches life race by from her apartment window. People zoom by on bikes and she sits, feeling small, watching life below. The apartment’s handyman, Egbert, brings gifts to the many families in need. A blanket. A flowerpot. A lamp. One day Egbert arrives with a brand new bike…for Mevan. Suddenly, she is seen. Suddenly, she is big.
Heart: Read the Epilogue and the Author’s Note. I read it with my daughter and it really touched us. “After all the ways in which the world had told me that I didn’t matter, thanks to Egbert and his gift, at least for a little while, I could be like every other kid – just a little girl riding her bike.” - Mevan Babakar
Head: As an International Studies major at Denison, I’ve been concerned about genocides and refugee crises for decades now. In college, I was stunned to uncover that a massive genocide occurred in Rwanda when I was in high school and I was completely in the dark. In order to care, we must first know. This is the power of learning and education. In my years as a social studies teacher, I brought such important humanitarian issues to the hearts and minds of my middle school students. And now, as I am following the largest humanitarian disaster in the world, it seems very few people are aware of it. According to Yousif of the International Rescue Committee, Sudan currently has the most displaced people in the world and nearly 3 million people “at the brink of famine.” Please, take time to read about this crisis that is unfolding and bring it to the attention of other people in your orbit.