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Fathima Rifqa Bary was born into a Muslim family in Galle, Sri Lanka, on August 10, 1992. When she was 5 years old, her older brother,who was 6 years old at the time, threw a toy airplane at Rifqa and blinded her in the right eye. After the Doctors in Sri Lanka wanted to remove Rifqa's eye her father insisted on going to America for treatment so the family moved to the United States in 2000 to seek medical attention for her eye injury. Overstaying their visa and not applying to become legal USA Citizens, the family remained in the United States illegally. They first lived in Queens, New York, but moved to Columbus, Ohio in 2004 because of its excellent public schools. Rifqa secretly converted to Christianity on November 18, 2005 when she was 13 years-old. She smuggled a Bible into her home and kept it hidden in various places. She attended church services and prayer meetings in secret. Eventually,however, in June 2009, Rifqa's religious beliefs were discovered by her family. Her father confronted her and threatened to kill her if she left Islam for Christianity. Rifqa ran away from home in July 2009 sparking a police search and eventually leading to a court case which resulted in Rifqa entering foster care. On turning 18 she was released from foster care and was permitted to file for a special immigrant juvenile status for underage illegal immigrants. She was awarded her green card in September 2010.
Klappentext
The compelling personal story of a teenage girl who stood against her family's faith to convert to Christianity and who gave up everything in her flight from religious persecution. In 2009 the story broke in national media of a teenage girl who had run away from her Ohio home, claiming that her Muslim father had threatened to kill her for refusing to renounce her Christian faith. Her parents denied the charges and fought to have her returned home, but she became a ward of the state, placed into foster care until she was emancipated at age 18. Today that girl is a young woman still living in an undisclosed location, still convinced her life is under threat, and still passionate about following Jesus, despite the risks. Teens and young adults will be moved by Rifqa's story of standing up to religious persecution, literally giving up everything to follow her faith.
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