In the Prologue, Ahmedi reflects on why she wrote her memoir while still a teenager. She did not think she had yet accomplished anything in life that would justify a memoir, but she found encouragement in Alyce Litz, an American volunteer with World Relief, the organization that facilitated her immigration from Afghanistan. Litz told Ahmedi that “with a life like mine, surviving itself is an achievement—just surviving” (1). Ahmedi admits to being skeptical about the validity of this point. She notes that from where she stands now, as a high school-aged young woman living in the United States, her childhood back in Afghanistan, and all of the tribulations that she survived in between, seem so distant; a world and a lifetime away. Ahmedi decided to tell her story after all because it is the story of her people, and it is both a story of tragedy’s trials and of life’s eternal promise.

Ahmedi opens “The Gondola” with a vignette about visiting an amusement park in suburban Chicago with her friends Alyce and John Litz. She recounts the marvel of her first experience with the whole spectacle that is an American amusement park.