For me, the first years are lost.
-- Omar (Opening Page of Introduction)

Importance: This quote is the opening and closing line of the memoir - captioned on the first and last page. It represents one of the many quotes that is repeated throughout the memoir to show how Omar and Hassan’s lives are evolving. It also represents the theme of waiting, as Omar spends most of his childhood and adolescence waiting in the refugee camp to both be reunited with his mother, and to be resettled. The authors open with this quote, then repeat this quote when Omar explains his journey from Somalia to the camp to the UN officer on page 189, and then finish the memoir with this line as Omar looks out of the plane window on his journey to America, followed then with “I hope that in America, Hassan and I will find our way” (257).

Hooyo.
-- Hassan (Introduction)

Importance: This quote represents the only word...