GCORR Book Study: What We Remember Will Be Saved By Stephanie Saldaña
This 5-session book study is based on “What We Remember Will Be Saved” By Stephanie Saldaña.
Stephanie Saldaña captures five (5) refugee stories, stories that tell about the escape from "the swath of geography between Qaraqosh in Iraq and Aleppo in Syria," allowing the storytellers to become historians of what was left behind as they escaped war and almost certain death. The stories capture the diversity of the refugees: Muslim, Christian, Yazidi; Arabic-, Kurdish-, and Aramaic-speaking. The stories also capture the spirit of not only surviving but also carrying your culture into new and unfamiliar places, sharing complex pasts, processing developing presents, and preserving unknown futures.
If each section of this book was its own book—and each story could be with its own complete remembrance—then the theme that connects them all is "the moments that give you pause."
"To give someone pause" is to cause someone to hesitate, to stop temporarily and think carefully, before having the capacity to move forward. Within each story, there are moments that give pause, and some of the most poignant moments are captured in a selected quote from each chapter and three (3) reflection questions per story; one or two vocabulary words also represent each chapter (this three-question pattern is not followed in the Prologue and Afterword). Some of these vocabulary choices are culturally specific; others are familiar terms that transform you—give you pause—in context. Some are food items to bring you deeper into the moment described. Others are terms that are only associated with war and violence. But each selection is important to remember—to save—to keep these people and their stories alive well into the future.
Each story is framed by a Bible verse and short prayer that capture a major story message.
Each session is made up of:
Centering Verses and Prayers
Vocabulary and Quotes
Reflection Questions
Note: The book is not included with this book study. You will need to purchase the book separately.