106 pgs. 7 female, 3 male +ensemble
Originally produced in CTC's 2003-2004 season
Run Time: 2 hours with intermission
Audience Recommendation: 9+
Najma, a Somali girl of 12, reads from her notebook. She has written memories of her home: the people are praying a Muslim daily prayer, led by the Imam. Najma remembers these prayers and also the droughts, famine and political upheaval that led so many to flee her country. As she recounts the story of her journey to Minneapolis, other students, particularly Tay C, a 12 year old American girl, complain. Tay C feels surrounded by overachievers. Laine, Tay C's mom, is a whirlwind of activity. Teaching in a literacy program, volunteering at the library, an AIDS hotline and a homeless shelter, doing power yoga and step aerobics, not to mention holding down a job, leaves little time for being with her daughter. On top of that, she expects Tay C to "be good" to Najma, who is living with them after being separated from her family. Najma loves school and the work that makes it possible to excel comes easily to her. The same is not true for Tay C whose excellence is in art. Rather than write a report she wants to cut the paper into silhouettes. She is angry, and grieving for the loss of her sister who was killed two years ago in gang crossfire, an event which her mom seems to avoid dealing with.
Najma renames her ESL class EFM - English as a Fourth Language. She speaks not only Somali, but Swahili and Arabic as well. The other students are from Kenya, Mexico, Ecuador, and Ethiopia and their conversations are sometimes a fascinating cacophony of languages. After school Najma follows Tay C to the cemetery. All the buried dead there bring up memories of the unburied casualties of war in Somalia, and the deaths Najma has witnessed. Tay C wants the details of how Najma's father died, shot while she watched. She tells how her little sister died of starvation at five years old, and how she lost her mother when they were separated at a refugee camp that had no more room.
Tay C is impressed by Najma's ability to rap along with the music Tay C listens to. Najma memorizes rhymes easily because in her culture history has been converted to poetry and passed on through oral tradition. Laine is impressed, too and wants to do a poetry jam with Najma. It's tough for Tay C to accept because poetry is something that was part of her sister Cam, that and piano music. It seems like Laine is replacing Cam with Najma, and Tay C hates that. Both girls remember their sisters. Najma has vivid memories of teaching her little sister, Qalin, lessons in language and history and so forth, even while the girl was starving. She dreams of having been able to give Qalin food and water. Tay C dreams of Cam playing piano with her...having ice cream.
Najma is waiting for her mother, her Hooyo, to come to America, but that becomes less likely as the political climate causes changes that make it difficult to get money to her in Somalia. The tension grows between Tay C and Najma until they even have a fist fight one day in their room. They harass each other constantly in every way they can find. Laine makes it worse by expecting Najma to participate in the poetry jam with her, even though it is very difficult for Najma - and for Tay C. On her birthday Tay C refuses to turn 13. Cam died at 12, and Tay C refuses to live longer than her sister did.
Damac and Abdi, Najma's cousin and brother come to Laine's house to get Najma. Her brother, Abdi, has arrived, rented an apartment, and wants Najma to be with him. It brings Laine and Tay C closer together to have to face Najma's absence - and with it Cam's. At last, we get a glimpse of the two girls, each in new schools, but having reached an understanding - and beginning to discover a friendship.
