Dimensions
155 x 233 x 21mm
The first week I arrived in Australia, I went to the Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge . . . he always wanted to go there . . . And I said, "I hope you will see me. I am saying to you, we are here. Your children are safe and I will be faithful to you. And for your children, I did my best. We will always love you".
Steeped in a mother's love for her children and driven by a wife's devotion to the memory of her late husband, 'The Promise' traces an Iraqi woman's desperate seven-year journey to freedom in Australia.
Guzin Najim always knew she was lucky. The adored eldest daughter of a well-respected General in the Iraqi Army, Guzin had a rare confidence that came from being raised by a progressive father who encouraged his daughter to strive for excellence in the same way he would have encouraged a son. And when she met and fell in love with the shy but determined Ra'ad Said while studying at Baghdad University, she knew they had a long, bright future together. He was the love of her life. She meant everything to him and more.
After university, Ra'ad quickly followed in his father's footsteps, working for the Iraqi government Foreign Ministry as a diplomat. For Ra'ad and Guzin life was the heady world of the international diplomatic circuit and, with their two children, they lived a happy and full life.
But things changed when Saddam Hussein's regime came to power. They were recalled to Iraq and when Ra'ad was given a job in Saddam's Information Ministry, he became distant and withdrawn. Late one night, when Ra'ad made Guzin promise to take their children out of Iraq at any cost and never return, she knew something was seriously wrong. At the time, she didn't question him. Now she wishes she had. They were the last words he ever spoke.
In 'The Promise', Guzin Najim relives the horror of her beloved husband Ra'ad's murder at the hands of the Iraqi government, and the terror of three years living under house arrest in Baghdad, knowing that her every move was being watched and that her children's lives were in constant danger. After their harrowing escape from Baghdad to Jordan where, supposedly safe, they continued to be terrorised by Iraqi officials for another three years.
When the UN finally granted her refugee status Guzin was given the choice of Canada, America or Australia. Her choice was simple. Ra'ad had always dreamed of the beautiful harbour city of Sydney. And when Guzin stepped off the plane in Australia for the first time, she knew that risking everything had been worth it - her children were safe and the promise she had made to her husband would be honoured.
