Allah's Orphans: The Story of an Afghan Girl

Earl Palmer, Senior Pastor of the University Presbyterian Church in Seattle, began a series about Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount with the familiar Beatitude, "Blessed are the Peacemakers for they shall be called the Sons of God." Palmer continued, "Peacemakers are a threat to all parties vying to control; they are disablers of evil for the common good, not enablers for the destruction of humankind. There is no comfort as a peacemaker. It is an abstract concept to share the sum total of our wealth and advantage with even our next-door neighbor. Why is this so? It is because peace has no immediate gratification." We would contemplate these prophetic words, spoken two days before the twin towers tumbled in mortifying dusty repetition on television screens around the world.

The book Allah’s Orphans: The Story of an Afghan Girl wistfully describes Afghan life in a time peace like Palmer describes. "Allah, let me be the daughter who helps my people," Amina Gul murmurs in a voice charged with plans, hope and a desire to share the sum total of who she is and what she has.

The daily journal of author, Janet Colberg, provides the framework for an Afghan story that takes place before the Soviet invasion of 1979. The vantage of a personal relationship with the main character, Amina Gul, validates the voice of Afghan children and their hope for an armistice. Allah’s Orphans with its tears and laughter, boys’ capers and young girls’ village weddings, prosperity and holiday celebration, brings a welcome contrast to today’s tragic news of Afghanistan.

In Allah’s Orphans, ghosts of heritage past come alive as the history and tenacity of the Lodi clan change Amina Gul. Inspired by the beauty of her homeland and the meaning of relationships formed at the feet of her protectors, Amina Gul chooses not to leave Afghanistan. Woven into the story are frequent references to Allah and the Quran and the way Muslim children live because of their Islamic faith. These observations plus twenty-five pictures of Afghan life increase the value of Allah’s Orphans to book clubs and to high school and college students and their study of literature and the culture of the Middle East.