Blood Stains by Arley Loewen

Great life lessons and Interesting insights in Afghan culture. Akram comes from Afghanistan, but settled in Pakistan years ago during the first wave of refugees in the 1980s. In his struggle to make a living with his small corner shop, Akram notices some young boys playing cricket. Thoughts from the past flood his mind. He recalls the days when as a teen-ager he enjoyed football (soccer) and kite-flying, but how the passion for winning and hunger for revenge would utterly alter the course of his life. As much as he tries, he can’t bury that memory. When a poor refugee family moves into their neighborhood, Akram soon faces new challenges. He only wants to help them, thinking this will give him some good ‘sawab’ and honor, but life unravels before him. He wonders why his efforts for good deeds boomerang back on him with increasing problems. Worst of all, as much as he tries to bury his past, his memories haunt him. He can’t understand why his own family never seems to be happy. While weddings are considered to be happy celebrations, why is the subsequent marriage experience so fraught with tension and disagreement? Thankfully, Baba Sharif, a long-time elderly friend and a great storyteller, guides Akram and his two young sons with helpful advice. Baba Sharif grew up as a traditional Persian wrestler and entertains Akram’s sons with fascinating stories of wrestlers as well as his own experiences in the wrestling arena. But the stories are much more than entertainment. Baba Sharif’s stories offer profound life lessons: - How can one fall and fail in life and yet get up again? - What do we mean with real respect? - What is true heroism all about? - Does revenge work? - How can one make up for the stains of the past? As Akram becomes more entangled with their new neighbors, yet another crisis shakes him to the core – his own son is in danger. With the stain from the past still too much for Akram to handle, a new passion for revenge flames up within him. Akram throws caution to the wind, ready to kill and forever remove his one threat in life. How will Baba Sharif respond to this?