Parvana's Journey

In the morning, Parvana resolves to stay for a little while and try to clean the house and surrounding clearing. The hills surrounding them make Parvana feel separate and safe from the war. Leila has a surprising amount of food and supplies: a cage full of pigeons, apple trees with ripening fruit, sacks of flower and rice, and several random items such as cloth and cooking oil. Leila shares that anytime she hears an explosion in the minefield, she rushes out to collect any useful items or food from the dead. Leila says she stays safe from the minefield by burying a little bit of food each time she eats to “feed” the ground (99). Leila and Parvana agree to be sisters, and Leila decides that Hassan and Asif will be their brothers. Parvana feels as if she has found her own little Green Valley. It isn’t perfect, but she knows if they work hard, they can make it beautiful. 

Parvana finds that one of the sores on Leila’s face, hidden under her hair, is larger than the others, and has small worms living inside of it. Unsure of what to do, Parvana shows Asif, who patiently removes the worms, and explains that flies laid their eggs in the wound. Now that Leila has companions, she is motivated to stay clean and take care of herself. The children begin to clean up the yard to create their Green Valley. They bury the animal carcasses, dig a latrine, and clean up the garbage. Asif builds containers for the rice and flour to keep mice away, and the girls sift through the sacks to rid them of mouse droppings. As they work, the girls talk about their mothers and dream that they will see both of them walking towards Green Valley someday. Leila shares that Asif doesn’t have a mother. He lived with his uncle, who beat him. It bothers Parvana that Asif would share this information with Leila, but not with her.

All of the children grow stronger and healthier, including Hassan, who eventually learns to stand. One day, Hassan almost wanders into the minefield, so they begin tethering him with a long rope while they work to keep him out of danger. In her next letter to Shauzia, Parvana expresses her wish that a peddler would come through the minefield so that they could get more supplies. However, after writing, she realizes that for her wish to come true, someone would have to die. She questions who she is becoming for having such thoughts, but she quickly dismisses them. 

Parvana, Asif, and Leila soon fall into a rhythm at Green Valley. Even though Parvana knows she must eventually continue her journey to find her mother, she dreams of bringing her family to Green Valley and making it their home, a place where the war cannot reach them. Now that the children have finished cleaning the yard and house exterior, they turn their attention to the interior. In order to air out the toshaks (sleeping mats) and floor mat, the children carefully drag Grandmother into the sun on her mattress. They continue to bring Grandmother outside a little each day, and as the children work, Hassan plays near Grandmother and sometimes falls asleep next to her. Little by little, Grandmother eventually shows signs of life and begins to practice standing up. Leila shares that her grandmother always wanted to go to school and have a book of her own, but as a girl, she was never educated. Neither Leila nor her mother ever went to school either. Parvana agrees to give Leila school lessons and gives Grandmother one of her father’s books as a gift, promising to teach her to read it.