Chapter 28

After Awad’s retreat, Richard talks with the workers and questions them on the men’s status and applications. It seems nothing has been done and the men are stuck as they can’t receive any benefits until they are confirmed asylum seekers but they need to pay for transit cards, food and lawyers while undergoing the process. Richard calculates how little they must have. Richard finds a parallel when he considers his own ageing, and reflects upon the prospects of being with the Ethiopian teacher. He concludes that ‘Learning to stop wanting things is probably one of the most difficult lessons in getting old but if you don’t learn … it will be like a bellyful of stones dragging you down into your grave’. In the same way, the men have desires, wants and dreams but it shouldn’t be put upon them to stop wanting things as they are still young and healthy.

Chapter 28 Quotes

Learning to stop wanting things is probably one of the most difficult lessons in getting old but if you don’t learn … it will be like a bellyful of stones dragging you down in to your grave. Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Richard continues his research by reading, in particular, the history of the regions that the men come from. He reads about how the Tuareg believe in a male and female force that combined to make humans and how these humans have various qualities and that ‘… none stand above the other, rather compliments the other …’ He reads that the unity the people held was disrupted when the French divided their lands into five different countries. As he reads, Richard reconsiders his classical training in Greek literature and considers the links between the Libyan world and the Greek world. Myths like Medusa and Heracles all connect the two ancient kingdoms. Richard contemplates the fact that in traditional Tuareg society, women pick their husbands and have the power to divorce them and hold the rights to all the property. Richard feels pleased to have added some knowledge to something he knew so much about.

Some of the websites Richard consults are frozen in time, discussing an upcoming peaceful renaissance in Libya after Gaddafi has been removed. Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi, commonly known as Colonel Gaddafi, was a Libyan revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was seen as a brutal dictator by some and many expected a change when he was captured and killed. However, those wishing to fill his place engaged in civil wars and riots. The websites have not been updated during the chaos and the empty digital promises of peace sit unfulfilled.

Richard’s friends call and he joins them for a walk. They discuss the refugees and Thomas, Richard’s friend, reminds them that Niger is very rich in uranium and countries will eye the valuable resource. Richard reveals he has the men over to his house for discussions, playing piano, and reading. He has asked Apollo to come over and do some work for cash in preparing his yard.

Chapter 29 Quotes

… none stand above the other, rather compliments the other … (Tuareg belief) Chapter 29

What span of time should you consider if you want to know what counts as progress. Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Apollo has come to help Richard with the boat and they talk as they work side by side. Richard asks about the wells that the Tuareg would dig and how they lost men, buried alive, as they worked in the loose sand. As the French used so much water to flush the uranium out of the stone, the water tables had dropped and the locals would have to dig deeper wells.

Richard asks Apollo if he worked in the mines but finds that he was a nomadic camel trader. His roaming life across the desert guided by stars and ancient stories is reminiscent of the Odyssey and The Iliad, quest stories that were passed down traditionally and eventually written by Homer. Richard pays Apollo fifty euros for the day.

Chapter 30 Quotes

All summer long, the boat lay moored beside the dock, but because of the dead man in the lake, Richard didn’t use it even once. Chapter 30

… without memory, man is just a bit of flesh on the planet’s surface. Chapter 30

Chapter 31

On Monday, Richard heads to the home but the men are all busy getting ready to go to ‘real German class’. As they assemble for the bus, Richard lists their names in his head and notes their countries and features. This moment reveals how Richard has slowly come to know these men, who all greet him as they line up, and become a part of their world. When he notices that loner Rufu is not among them, he goes to his room and fetches him. As the bus has left in the meantime, Richard drives Rufu to the school at the community college in Kreuzberg. At the class, he and Rashid help others fill in the forms as they know the men’s names. On the way home, Rashid and two other crowd in the back of Richard’s car and Rufu sits up front. On the way home, they break out in song and are clapping and singing. At the lights, Richard notices the occupants of the car next to him are staring in shock at the sight of the men. In fact, they are still in shock and don’t proceed when the light turns green, prompting honks from the cars behind. Richard gets a glimpse into the underlying prejudice of the German community.

Chapter 31 Quotes

The subway runs underground, you don’t see where you are. Chapter 31

Admitting that you don’t know how to write strikes Richard as no less intimate than taking off one’s clothes at the doctor’s. Chapter 31

Richard hears the chorus of honking horns behind the car of the family still frozen in shock. Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Richard spends the day cleaning and watching television but before he goes to bed he Googles ‘Ethiopian language teacher’, even though he knows it is a long shot, revealing he still thinks about the teacher who is now redundant because the group attend the community college for language classes. The next day, Osarobo comes over to play piano but gets lost on the way. He rings Richard, who asks him to read the street signs to him so he can come and get him. He then thinks about some of the other men who can’t read the signs. Osarobo is described as ‘looking blind’ when Richard arrives, the language barrier synonymous with the difficulties facing a blind person. The pair spend the day playing piano and Richard puts on some videos of musicians. Osarobo is impressed by the talent, and Richard notes that ‘these three musicians use the black and white keys to tell stories that have nothing at all to do with key’s colours’. When Osarobo leaves, Richard orders tickets for himself and Osarobo for an upcoming oratorio, a musical work for orchestra and voices, which is typically premised on a sacred theme, performed without costume, scenery, or action.

Chapter 32 Quotes

The way he’s standing there, he looks like a blind man. (Osarobo, lost) Chapter 32

… watching and listening as these three musicians use the black and white keys to tell stories that have nothing at all to do with key’s colours. Chapter 32

Chapter 33

When Richard next arrives at the nursing home, he is informed that the men are clear from chickenpox and can move to Spandau. As the men pack up, the title phrase, Go, Went, Gone, seems applicable. Go, went, gone can represent the nomadic nature of the men’s lives even before they were refugees. It is emblematic of their plight as refugees moving from city to city, the plaza to the nursing home and then moving once again. It also ties with the text’s theme on the temporal nature of things, that what is here today is gone tomorrow: the mention of historical artefacts buried under the city, the man missing in the lake, Richard’s career and so on. It is presented in the form of a language lesson on tense, harmonising with the communication aspects of the text, the language lessons, the journalists and teachers, the men’s struggle and mastery of language and how that impacts or benefits their progress. Richard discusses the move with Sylvia and Detlef who are optimistic that it may be a good thing.

Chapter 33 Quotes

Go, went, gone. Chapter 33

But maybe they’ll have it better there … a sign they are going to be accepted. (Sylvia) Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Richard visits the men in their new home at Spandau. Rashid receives him like a visitor and offers typical African hospitality. He is welcomed and fed and at the end, Rashid walks him to the door as one would a guest. He says ‘it is normal here’, a sign that things may be looking up. Normal is questioned but the fact that there are families and children around make the men feel like the place is more ‘typical’. This leads to the men questioning how many children and grandchildren Richard has. They seem saddened and unable to comprehend the news he has none. The men also receive notices that their asylum cases are proceeding, which is a positive. Richard seems to be out of step with the good news. He notes that the house is only two stories as it would be hard to throw yourself to your death from only two stories, much like the way the windows were permanently shut in the terminal cancer ward where his mother had been.

Khalil asks Richard about totensonntag, as this was written on the door of the dance club that the men had gone to, explaining why the place was closed that night. Richard explains that clubs and cinemas are closed on totensonntag as it is a holiday to honour the dead. Richard had gone to the cemetery that morning to visit the graves of his parents. Khalil’s face turns as his frustration over the club being closed is replaced with thought of his own parents and wondering if they are alive or dead. The holiday echoes the constant feeling that death is omnipresent. Like the man in the lake, death just lurks in the shadows, somewhat menacing and somewhat a natural part of the cycle of life.

The fate of Khalil’s parents is unknown. Richard has been watching footage of the drowned bodies of refugees that have washed ashore in Europe after their boats capsized. He knows that Khalil’s parents may be among the unfortunate. Richard is dismayed at the responses he sees among the comments in reply to the news: ‘the only ones I really feel sorry for are the coast guard’ DontCare, ‘The planet’s already incredibly overpopulated anyhow’ GodOfSlaughter, ‘Let’s save our cash for Granny – not the Roma and the Sinti’ Party Slogan. Richard reflects on the hatred and his own thoughts about the inconsiderate comments are summed up in a poem he remembers by Brecht. ‘In all the world what can have come over them!/Who’s bugging this lot/ to make them act/ As if they’re cold right through? Further contemplation leads Richard to consider that it is only by pure chance that a refugee makes the trip or is drowned and therefore ‘every one of the African refugees here, is simultaneously alive and dead’.

Richard attends to his parents’ graves, covering them in branches as is traditional for that time of year, and considers that his family cemetery plot, that accommodates three generations, is a luxury. A luxury in the sense that three generations can live and die in the same area, have the peace to know how and why they die, and to have the wherewithal to buy land to bury the dead. A stark contrast to Khalil’s missing parents, the man in the lake or bodies washing ashore in Europe.

Chapter 34 Quotes

Its normal here, Rashid says, were happy. Chapter 34

Were glad when we have something to do, Rashid says. Chapter 34

… a desperate man can’t throw himself to his death from a second story window. Chapter 34

Where are they buried? Who knows their names? Chapter 34

‘the only ones I really feel sorry for are the coast guard’ DontCare. Chapter 34

‘The planet’s already incredibly overpopulated anyhow’ GodOfSlaughter. Chapter 34

‘Let’s save our cash for Granny – not the Roma and the Sinti’ Party Slogan. Chapter 34

In this sense, every one of the African refugees here, is simultaneously alive and dead. Chapter 34

Chapter 35

The first Advent Sunday arrives. Advent is about a month-long period of preparation for the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ at Christmas, usually starting in late November. Richard continues to visit the men and enjoy the hospitality they offer. On one visit, he meets a senate worker who tells him that the Foreigner’s Office has instructions from very high up to be very strict with the applications for asylum. Tristan (Awad) asks Richard to speak with his lawyer, who informs Richard that because Awad’s country of origin, Ghana, is considered safe despite the fact he lived in Libya, and because he came via Italy, the case does not look good. Khalil can’t write well and so his applications contain sketches of boats. Zani, the asylum seeker with the damaged eye, has newspaper articles outlining several massacres that occurred in his hometown before he fled to Libya but has been told he needs proof.

Chapter 35 Quotes

… there probably isn’t much I can do. (Awad’s lawyer) Chapter 35

.. he can’t write very well. (about Khalil) Chapter 35

… I need to have proof for the interview (Zali) Chapter 35

Chapter 36

The men hear on the news that Germany will no longer detain refugees before deporting them and they seemed pleased. However, Rashid is silent. He focuses on the fact that deportations will continue and tells Richard he thinks that ‘They really don’t want us here’.

Life continues for the men. Tristan is pleased he has a place to sleep inside when winter arrives. They interact with the families that live with them and Richard picks up Osarobo for piano and finds yard work for Tristan. He even finds work for Ali helping a friend, Anne, with her mother, which Richard thinks fits with Ali’s dream of becoming a nurse.

At the men’s home, a constant alarm interrupts them and Yaya, a refugee, cuts the wires which causes a fuss. Richard’s questions seem less pertinent now the men are settled and waiting to find out their fate.

Chapter 36 Quotes

.. a farmer folds his lamb’s soft ears down over their eyes before they’re slaughtered, to calm them. (video the men are watching) Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Richard enjoys going to the men’s residence and is enjoying the food. The job that he got Ali working with Anne’s mother seems to be working out, although the mother was initially scared of Ali because he was black. When Richard arrives to give the tickets to Osarobo for the Christmas Oratorio, he is informed that Osarobo has returned to Italy to sort out his paperwork. Richard is distressed at first because he had the tickets and also had purchased Osarobo a small keyboard as a Christmas present. He felt that he had lost sight of true hope and was becoming an almsgiver, someone who is just ‘trying to ‘’do his part’’ on a small scale’.

Chapter 37 Quotes

At first … my mother was scared of him because he’s black… (Anne) Chapter 37

You mustn’t forget she belongs to a completely different generation. (about Anne’s mum) Chapter 37

When did he turn from being a man filled with great hope for mankind into an almsgiver? (about Richard) Chapter 37

Chapter 38

On a visit to the men Richard notices a plate of food and asks Apollo what it is. Apollo tells him he is eating it over a few days as to eat too much is to become spoiled. Richard reflects on a girl in the Nazi era who, upon learning she was to be deported, ate small portions to harden herself in readiness. The men here have very little and must live without luxuries taken for granted by many. They rely on their phones to keep in touch with each other, other refugees and supporters and family they have left behind. Some have used Facebook to reconnect with family and friends. Rashid contacted his mother but sits sideways at the computer so she can’t see his damaged eye and sometimes doesn’t answer if she calls as he has no good news for her.

Chapter 38 Quotes

If you eat more, you become like an infant … too spoiled. (Apollo) Chapter 38

None of them has his own apartment or even his own bed; all their clothing comes from donations. There’s no car, no stereo, no gym membership, no outings, no travel, no wife, no children … Chapter 38

Chapter 39

While waiting the verdict of the senate regarding their asylum status, the men gather together and eat and talk. They sometimes reunite with men from their days in Oranienplatz, where they spent time living in tents. They can’t afford to spend money frivolously but enjoy going out. Richard wonders why they spend money on the transit card when they could just dodge the fare but realises that even a minor incident like this could impact their asylum application.

The men’s situation is tough. The law seems to be merciless and bent on sending the men back to different villages before moving them back to Italy or another country that they were in before Germany. It has no intention of being flexible or considering individual or group cases, which the author reminds us are not cases but people. The men would rather stay together as a group than be paid to move to a Bavarian village. They also see it as an opportunity to try and make the law fairer for other refugees in the future. Meanwhile, the vile and racist public backlash is recorded and interspersed throughout the legal conditions, presenting a wall of resistance for the men.

Chapter 39 Quotes

We’re not giving away anything for free, the law says, unrelenting and hard as iron. Chapter 39

Round up all the boys and girls and send them back to where they came from. Chapter 39

… they’ve got plenty anyhow, they’re all drug dealers or African mafia. Chapter 39

Today for dinner the law will devour hand, knee, nose, mouth, feet, eyes, brain, ribs, heart or teeth. Some part or other. Chapter 39

Chapter 40

While all his friends are making family plans, Richard seems destined to spend Christmas alone. Again, there is a similarity between Richard and the refugees who are without close relatives at special times of the year. Richard decides to call Rashid and invite him for Christmas, and sets about bringing out old decorations which in turn bring back memories of his time with his wife. Surprised at what he remembers, he wonders what other memories are ‘lurking in the dark reaches of his memory that will never again be dragged out of storage, before closing time arrives and the lights go out for good’. It seems memories too are grouped with the underground, otherworldly, like buried treasures or a dead man in the lake.

Chapter 40 Quotes

What other things might be lurking in the dark reaches of his memory that will never again be dragged out of storage, before closing time arrives and the lights go out for good. Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Rashid comes to Richard’s for Christmas and notes that he used to make the metal gates that are at the entrance to Richard’s property. Rashid enjoys the meal. They spend time together and Richard gifts him any coat he wishes from Richard’s closet as he hadn’t purchased a present earlier. Richard explains the traditions that surround Christmas, the candles and the angels that he has displayed. Rashid seems pleased that one of the model wise men is black and that they share an understanding of Jesus, albeit to Rashid he is a prophet.

Rashid shares his story and how he lived a contented life with his wife and two children. He was working as a metalworker and his children would come by the shop after school. One day his wife called, distressed, and when he made his way to pick her up, he was blocked by soldiers. He was taken to their barracks and later forced on to boats. One man tried to swim back to shore and was shot. After sometime, the boat was without steering and lost. When the rescue boat came and started throwing food and water to the refugees who had been without for five days, the refugees scrambled for the packages causing their boat to capsize. Over 500 refugees drowned, Rashid’s children among them. His wife managed to escape and later divorced him. Rashid’s story is saddening and highlights that in an instant, life can change.

Chapter 41 Quotes

The Europeans bomb u s- so we’ll bomb them with blacks, Gaddafi said. Chapter 41

Under the water I saw all the corpses. (Rashid) Chapter 41

Even today sometimes I think I see one of our children suddenly walking through the door. (Rashid) Chapter 41

If you could see doing my work, says Rashid, … you would see a completely other Rashid. You know, he says, for me working is as natural as breathing. Chapter 41