page_title: The Other Side of the Sky: A Memoir
section_title: Summary
hierarchical_section_title: The Other Side of the Sky: A Memoir / Summary
caption_attribution_description: English: Laura Bush meets with 17-year-old Farah Ahmedi, author of the book, The Story of My Life: An Afghan Girl on the Other Side of the Sky, in the Diplomatic Reception Room at the White House May 5, 2005. In her book, Farah, who now lives near Chicago, recounts her life in war-time Afghanistan.
context_page_description: The Other Side of the Sky: A Memoir is a memoir by Farah Ahmedi with Tamim Ansary. The book profiles the life of Farah Ahmedi from the time she was born Hola until she was seventeen years old.
  This book is about the struggles Farah faces throughout her life. The story begins when she was growing up in war torn Afghanistan. One day when she was seven, Farah woke up late, so she decided to take a shortcut to school. Unknown to her, there was a landmine that was planted in the field she was cutting across. She accidentally stepped on it and it exploded. After her leg was amputated and she fled to Pakistan with her mother, World Relief accepted their applications to go to America. Once they arrived, Farah and her mother continued to struggle with the new culture, language, and the speed of the modern world.
context_section_description: Farah Ahmedi was born in Kabul, Afghanistan near the end of the Soviet–Afghan War. When she was in second grade, she stepped on a land mine while walking to school. Farah was transferred to Germany where her leg was amputated. After over eighteen months in Germany, she returned to her home in Kabul. Shortly after she returned home, her father and two sisters were killed by a stray rocket while Farah and her mother were shopping for fabrics, and her two brothers left Afghanistan in order to avoid a draft. Fearing for their lives, Farah and her mother fled to Pakistan where they endured harsh conditions in refugee camps for a couple years before World Relief rescued them and provided them a home in Chicago, Illinois. In Chicago, Farah and her mother began to adjust to their new life, with major help from Alyce Litz, one of Farah's new friends.
caption: Laura Bush meets with Farah Ahmedi in the Diplomatic Reception Room at the White House on May 5, 2005.
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