Chapter 17 — To Syria with Love
(In Arabic)
Blessings and greetings to Hawwa from her devoted husband Esam in far-away America.
My dearest Hawwa, My heart aches from our separation. I miss you and our dear little Ashraf with my whole being. I am entirely dedicated to earning the money required to bring you to this great country so that we may once again be a family. Knowing that our love has bound our souls together, three times every day I pray that our physical separation may be brief.
The benefactors I rent my new room from are kind and understanding, and they charge me almost nothing for my lodging. The food here is expensive, but my needs are minimal. I continue to buy only used clothes and footwear. I do not spend a single dollar, my darling, without first assessing the impact on our reunion.
My employer is not an honorable man, but through his employment lies the path to our reunion. He cheats me at every turn, but it is a sacrifice I am blessed to make. As the holy Abba Anthony said, “I saw the snares that the enemy spreads out over the world and I said groaning, ‘What can get through from such snares?’ Then I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Humility.'”
I have begun to get special assignments at work. I do not always understand their nature, but I comply to strengthen my position with my employer. His trust in me has grown. I am no longer required to arrive at work until early afternoon, and I remain there through the evening as the sole worker in the building.
The skills I learned working for your cousin Tadros are proving beneficial as I have recently been called on to perform construction and maintenance duties. I have restored their security system and am repairing the floor in one of the storage areas. However, they demonstrate great ignorance when it comes to the particulars of construction. I have warned them, for instance, that they are putting entirely too much sand in the concrete mix and will have a weak and easily broken result. My employer is as stubborn as a desert ass on this and other matters, and so I do as I am told. I pray that I will find new work before the hole I patched in the floor reopens next year.
I conclude this letter with a promise to write another in seven days. May our Lord watch over us and bless us and keep us safe and pure during our separation. May see each other again soon.
Your loving husband, Esam