近江兄弟社中学校

３年

若杉萌

Hero is a word that we often hear these days. Who does it make you
think of? Batman, Spiderman, Superman, Astroboy, Doraemon, Anpanman?
Someone with incredible super powers, performing impossible feats? Well, thestory you are about to hear tells about a different kind of superhero. I’mgoing to tell you about some true events in the life of a real person. She
shows us that it’s not necessary to see through walls or fly or fight crime.
The hero that I want to talk about today is a woman. Her name is Alia. AliaMuhammad Baker. She is the head librarian of the Basra City Library. Basrais a port city, in the sand swept country of Iraq. Under Alia’s leadership, thelibrary was a place where doctors, lawyers, professors, students and artists
met each afternoon. It wasn’t a quiet place, but a place to talk about thestories in the books. They talked about all sorts of things: the world, politics,
their families, and how the books they read helped them to understand all ofthese things. But suddenly, in 2003, all of this changed. They could heargunfire and explosions in the distance. The war was coming. The distantgunfire and planes in the sky gradually became missiles screaming overhead
and flames falling from the sky, and then the city began to burn. Alia worried
that the fires of war would burn down her library, and destroy all the books
in it. The books were so precious to her. In the Koran, the first thing that
God said to Muhammad was, ‘Read.’ Alia knew that she had to keep thebooks in her library safe. The books were in many languages: Arabic, Ancient
Persian, French, German, Spanish, Greek, and Latin. They held the knowledgeof many generations, from many different countries. The oldest book was 700years old, a Spanish translation of the Koran. It represented so much aboutfaith and internationalization! Alia wanted to protect it. So she asked thegovernor for permission to move the books out of the city to a safe place. He
refused, and he didn’t give her any explanation at all. Why would a person
refuse such a request? Alia could not sit and do nothing, so, secretly, she17

中学生―Ｄ部門

The Librarian of Basra中学生―Ｄ部門

began to take the books to her home. She filled her handbag many times, andfilled her little car. She took the most important books first. Next door to thelibrary, was a small restaurant. Alia ate lunch there sometimes and enjoyedtalking with the owner, a man named Anis. He came now to ask her what
she was doing, and to see if he could help. Soon, his storeroom was stacked
to the ceiling with books. People from all the shops and houses nearby cameto carry books to safety, putting them in basements and under their beds, inspare rooms and on top of cupboards. All together, Alia and her helpers took
about 30,000 books from the City Library. Nine days later, the city was again
lit with a firestorm of bombs, and many buildings were burned down, thistime including the library. But, because of Alia’s heroic actions, many books
were saved. The people of Basra still have access to all of the knowledge thatthey hold. Iraq is still a troubled country, but Alia believes that it is education
and understanding that will bring peace. So now she stands guard in front ofa new library building, and hopes for a lasting peace. See? She couldn’t see
through walls, or fly. But she could bring her community together to act toprotect something important. A truly wonderful person: Alia MuhammadBaker, the librarian of Basra.

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