NEXT UP! 3 158 In the Sea There Are Crocodiles The story of Enaiatollah Akbari by Fabio Geda In Fabio Geda’s book In the Sea There Are Crocodiles, he tells the true story of a young Afghan boy, Enaiat, who finds himself all alone in the world at the age of ten. Enaiat spends the years that follow as a refugee, making a strenuous and dangerous journey through Pakistan, Iran and Turkey until he reaches the ocean that divides Asia and Europe. From there, he makes a desperate attempt to cross the Mediterranean Sea with four other Afghan boys. […] We’d been told that by rowing fast we would land on the coast of Greece in two or three hours, but that was without taking into account the water coming into the dinghy. When the sea got rough and started pouring down on us as if it was raining, I took a water bottle, tore it in half with my teeth to make it into a bowl and said to Hussein Ali, Leave the patch and start throwing the water back in the sea. How? With this, I said, showing him the half bottle. At that moment a wave ripped it out of my hand, as if it had heard me and didn’t agree. I made another one. I took Hussein Ali’s hand and pressed the bowl into it. With this, I said again. We were still rowing. But why then did we feel as if we weren’t moving? Or worse still, that we were going backwards? And as if that wasn’t enough, the inflatable tubes got in the way, the inflatable tubes we’d been given to use as life preservers. We’d tied them to the dinghy with long ropes because we were afraid they’d bother us as we rowed, so unfortunately, when the wind blew hard, it lifted these inflatable tubes, turning them into balloons that made the dinghy rotate or swerve. Before reading Why do you think some people are willing to risk their lives to seek a better life somewhere else? Freewrite for a couple of minutes. strenuous – krefjandi an attempt – tilraun to take into account – taka með í reikninginn a dinghy – lítill bátur rough – grófur a patch – bót inflatable tubes – uppblásanleg rör
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