Nar­in finds her­self in a deep and reflec­tive con­ver­sa­tion with her Grand­ma, sit­ting by the serene banks of the Riv­er Tigris in 2014. This moment between the two women becomes a space for explo­ration, as they dis­cuss the cul­tur­al myths that have shaped their iden­ti­ty and the iso­la­tion that often comes with adher­ing to these ancient beliefs. Grand­ma opens up about a painful mem­o­ry of her younger broth­er being shunned by their com­mu­ni­ty due to the prej­u­dices and stereo­types tied to their cul­tur­al roots. As they jour­ney toward Iraq, Nar­in, filled with a sense of excite­ment and matu­ri­ty, reflects on the family’s rich her­itage and the per­son­al his­to­ry that is inter­twined with the land they are trav­el­ing through. This emo­tion­al jour­ney takes Nar­in beyond the phys­i­cal land­scapes, as she begins to under­stand how the past shapes her present and the future ahead. She feels a deep con­nec­tion with her ances­tors as Grandma’s words imbue her with the sense of respon­si­bil­i­ty to car­ry their sto­ries for­ward.

Upon arriv­ing in Cizre, Narin’s world expands when her Grand­ma intro­duces her to the famous fig­ure Al-Jazari, a renowned sci­en­tist and engi­neer from Upper Mesopotamia. This his­tor­i­cal encounter brings to life Al-Jazari’s extra­or­di­nary inven­tions, such as a mechan­i­cal pea­cock designed to dis­pense water and atten­dants who pro­vid­ed guests with soap and tow­els. Nar­in is fas­ci­nat­ed, real­iz­ing that these remark­able designs reflect the advanced knowl­edge of a long-for­got­ten era. As her father shares that Al-Jazari’s inven­tions are now housed in muse­ums, par­tic­u­lar­ly in the Unit­ed States, Nar­in becomes aware of the broad­er impli­ca­tions of cul­tur­al her­itage being dis­played far from its place of ori­gin. Grand­ma express­es her frus­tra­tion and sad­ness over the loss of these invalu­able pieces of their his­to­ry, now removed from the very soil that once nur­tured them. This real­iza­tion sparks a mean­ing­ful con­ver­sa­tion about the strug­gles faced by their cul­ture in pre­serv­ing their his­to­ry while oth­ers around the world con­tin­ue to prof­it from it.

The fam­i­ly delves fur­ther into their con­ver­sa­tion, con­tem­plat­ing how the lega­cy of Al-Jazari is viewed through dif­fer­ent cul­tur­al lenses—Arab, Iran­ian, and Kur­dish. This dis­cus­sion brings to light the deep­er issues of cul­tur­al recog­ni­tion and iden­ti­ty, high­light­ing how each com­mu­ni­ty holds onto dif­fer­ent inter­pre­ta­tions of their shared past. Despite the his­tor­i­cal era­sure of fig­ures like Al-Jazari, Narin’s father reas­sures her that their fam­i­ly plays a vital role in keep­ing these mem­o­ries alive, refer­ring to them as the “mem­o­ry tribe.” This sen­ti­ment strength­ens the family’s com­mit­ment to pre­serv­ing their his­to­ry and pass­ing it on to future gen­er­a­tions. As their jour­ney pro­gress­es, they find them­selves once again by the Tigris Riv­er, where Grand­ma fond­ly rem­i­nisces about the vibrant wildlife that once flour­ished in the region. The oryx­es and lions that roamed freely are now lost, their pres­ence wiped out by relent­less hunt­ing and the rav­ages of war. The mem­o­ry of these ani­mals’ majesty stirs up a deep sense of grief in Nar­in, as she reflects on the frag­ile bal­ance between nature and human inter­fer­ence. The con­ver­sa­tion then shifts to the marsh­lands, once a fer­tile and sus­tain­ing land, now drained and destroyed by the envi­ron­men­tal and polit­i­cal forces that have dev­as­tat­ed their home­land. Narin’s father then speaks of the Yazi­di com­mu­ni­ties who have been dis­placed by the actions of oppres­sive gov­ern­ments, fur­ther empha­siz­ing the fragili­ty of their people’s sur­vival. The con­tin­u­ing threat posed by the Mosul Dam adds to the weight of these reflec­tions, but despite all the destruc­tion, Narin’s fam­i­ly holds on to the hope that their cul­ture and her­itage will endure, even in the face of adver­si­ty. Their deep love for their his­to­ry, root­ed in both pain and resilience, becomes a bea­con of strength as they con­tin­ue their jour­ney into an uncer­tain future, deter­mined to pre­serve the sto­ries and tra­di­tions that define them.