JOURNAL 10
The day we left, the sea was calm.
My sister said the water was too dirty to drink
and she wanted to go find her husband.
My friend had a compass and he could help row.
We had to take our mothers,
and my grandparents
couldn’t survive alone.
My wife’s brother had lost everything
so they had to come too.
All we had was each other.
16 in my rowboat 
and it was getting dark
and the babies were crying.
My dog got scared and ran away.
I told myself he was safer on land.
It was night when we left the skeleton of the dock.


*
…to be continued…
JOURNAL 9
The storm pushed into our door…
…and broke through our ceiling.
We escaped to the roof.
From up there we could see…
We saved only what mattered.
Our house was gone.
Everyone’s house was gone.
The dock was gone.
But children played on the boat
and I could get it ready.
I knew we had to leave.
END OF CHAPTER THREE
This story continues in Chapter Four
JOURNAL 8
He went across the sea…
…looking for work.
He was my sister’s husband
and he never came back.
I promised not to leave them.
Even after the rising sea swallowed the pier
I could still fish.
Sea water seeped up through the street.
But if we could keep fishing
I thought I could stay.
My friend said if we left…
…we could make MONEY to bring our families by plane
and live like people on TV.
Then the storm began
slowly at first.


*
…to be continued…
JOURNAL 7
At night when we stopped…
I asked the stars to remember…
…people I would never see again.
In the day, dry heat…
…lit fires in the hills.
The ones who could, kept going.
We thought people in the hills 
were different from us.
Now they had to leave too.
The last of our food
The last of our water
In the distance we began to see…
…tents of the refugee camp.
End of Chapter Two


*
Chapter Three begins next month!
JOURNAL 6
We emptied our well and…
…carrying nothing but water…
…we walked away from home.
We passed by places that once were familiar
and places we no longer recognized.
The sand blew in our eyes.
When it cleared, we saw…
…so many people walking like us.
I saw a girl I knew from school.
We didn’t speak.
No one spoke.
We had to save our breath…
…to keep going.


*
To be continued…
JOURNAL 5
We grew food here…
…even after…
…the rains stopped coming.
We had a river.
I could still see it…
[The grave marker 1868-1939 belongs to the old man pictured later.]
…if I closed my eyes.
Maybe we could ask for help…
…from our neighbors…
…but they had to leave too.
He built this farm long before I was born.


[This is the man buried along the river, earlier.]
We couldn’t leave.
But if we stayed we would die.


*
To be continued…
JOURNAL 4
I wanted to go home
but we had no home to go to.
Walking, walking, walking all day…
…and all night into an unknown.
Hope
Hope was all that kept us going.
Far in the distance…
…we began to see the tents 
of the refugee camp.
END OF CHAPTER ONE


*
Chapter Two begins soon!
JOURNAL 3
The long road led only…
…away.
How much longer could the truck keep going?
We started walking alone in the dark.
Then hundreds of people were walking with us.
I carried my baby and my bag.
I could not feel my feet.


*


To be continued next month!
JOURNAL 2
The night before my birthday
mama woke us in the dark.
She said to pack…
…only what could fit in one suitcase.
We took the keys. We left the photos.
We were going to drive someplace safe.
Our neighbors…
…ran into the street…
…and reached for each other.
We took only what we could carry…
…and climbed onto a truck.
*


To be continued next month!
JOURNAL 1
After the Sanctuary installation ended in February
the voices continued.


So I began their “journals” 
with paraphrases inspired by actual memories.


I stained thick Arches paper with coffee and charcoal
to reflect the resilient grit of the refugees 
and folded the paper to make the front and back 8.5” x 11”
and a centerfold 11” x 17” = 3 images each page.


These are the first 9 steps of what will be a long journey.
“How could a girl like me reach the other side of the world
where all dreams are possible?”
“I looked at the horizon, searching
for a measure of peace in the hills.”
“My hands helped me not to cry.”
“Mom said don’t run around.
If you get lost we will never find you.”
(This is how a stained centerfold looks before the drawing.)
“It was gone – my home, my life, all of it –
Nothing but rubble, nothing but dust.”
“There was no help coming.”
Screaming. Someone was screaming
Get out get out get out get out get out get out
“We thought we would go back.
That was years ago.”
“Even today I can see the ashes falling.”


*


MORE PAGES COMING NEXT MONTH!
(Spoiler: The people will make it in the end.)