Coming Back: Diary of a Mission to Afghanistan

by Edoardo Albinati, Howard Curtis (Translator)

In March 2002, the repatriation of Afghan refugees began. It was one of the largest migrations in history, an exodus of biblical proportions, yet this time people were not fleeing, but returning to their own country, where they found demolished houses, mined fields, and no water supplies. Edoardo Albinati spent 4 months in Afghanistan working in the UNHCR centers where the tide of returnees was at its peak. He travelled around the cities of Kabul, Kandahar, the deserts and the rural areas in search of solutions for the reintegration of the refugees. This book—written with the zest of a diarist and peopled by a myriad unforgettable faces and stories—is the daily account of what he saw, heard, and did while hundreds of thousands of people struggling for survival rolled past in overcrowded trucks. It is the critical, impassioned testimony of a gigantic collective effort whose outcome is still highly uncertain.

Genres: Middle East

248 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Da oltre vent’anni lavora come insegnante nel penitenziario di Rebibbia, esperienza narrata nel diario Maggio selvaggio. Suoi reportage dall’Afghanistan e dal Ciad sono usciti sul “Corriere della Sera”, “la Repubblica”, “The Washington Post”. Ha scritto film per il cinema di Matteo Garrone e Marco Bellocchio. Tra gli ultimi libri pubblicati, ricordiamo Tuttalpiù muoio con Filippo Timi e Vita e morte di un ingegnere.

Reviews

[Vanessa Fuller · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you want to know what goes on in the minds and life of an aid worker, this is a fantastic read. But, oof is it heavy.