"Carrying a gun is not the way to better life. So, little Hamko go to school tomorrow and learn how to read and write, even if it is in the language of your enemies". Hamko's enemies are Sadam Hussain and the Ba'atb regime. His moving memoir exposes the brutal violence against the Kurdish people in Iraq. Bullying, cruelty and fear are everywhere. Hamko preserves even as his people are forced to flee to their beloved mountains, where the refugees endure winter rains, minefields, and threats of chemical welfare. There, the survivors bury their dead and turn on each other for a piece of bread. But in the mid of the injustice arise unexpected acts of kinds, unmerited mercy and idealized love. In the mountains of Kurdistan, a courageous people sings songs of hope among ashes.