Chapter 1: Diaspora

July 27, 1993

Leadership can be a subtle thing, particularly when it is unsought. Some people become leaders without knowing it. It is rare, but it does happen. Such individuals go through life behaving naturally, speaking honestly, and acting properly without realizing that others see this and emulate it, consciously or unconsciously. The individual just continues being himself or herself unaware that others are watching or measuring themselves against them.

It is more than just being articulate, attractive, charismatic, or intelligent. These unknowing leaders tend to assess things for themselves and select the appropriate reaction. People see those things, recognize the value of following the example of someone who see circumstances clearly and reacts in an appropriate manner.

They are honestly surprised when others come to them for advice or credit them with having helped in some matter. They are shocked when a hint of disapproval of something on their part causes others to re-examine it. In some cases, they aren’t even aware that their concern is what triggered others to be concerned.

Jomo Sy was one of those individuals who was a leader in his community and was totally unaware of it. He went out to his farm and worked hard to produce quality crops. He supported his wife in building her business. These were just things that he did without thought since they came quite naturally to him. Others saw his success, his humility, and his hard work. They sought the same for themselves using him as a role model.

Hearth Chou looked up from her papers at Jomo Sy. He was standing there looking uneasy, as if he had something to say that was distasteful. She frowned at the idea that something was bothering him. He was not the type to complain, to demand, or to create problems. If he had a problem, then it was likely something very serious.

“What’s the matter, Jomo Sy?”

“I was wondering...”

She waited for him to continue, but he fidgeted nervously and looked down at the floor.

“Is there a problem?” she asked concerned by his behavior.

He blurted out, “My wife, Kiah, wants a house.”

He and his family, like the rest of the refugees, were still living in a tent. It was okay, but the canvas walls didn’t stop sounds from traveling in and out of the tent. His wife was tired of waking in the middle of the night to the cries of babies wanting to be fed. She was tired of the wind blowing against the walls of the tent and making flapping sounds. She wanted a real house with real walls that would give greater privacy and be a little quieter.

“That’s great,” Hearth Chou said.

“You’re not mad?”

“No.”

“I was worried that you’d think I was complaining. I’m not really. It’s just that we’ve been living in a tent for four years and Kiah wants to have a real house.”

Hearth Chou smiled. Once again, Jomo had come in time to solve a problem with which the Jade Force had been wrestling. The Misera Civil War had given the Jade Warriors a new home. Whereas the Jade Academy had Vam refugee families that had moved in, and provided support services; the Jade Warriors in their new home, were without that kind of support. They were hoping to get the Sumar refugees to join them in their new home.

That hadn’t been their original plan. When they had taken the contract for the refugees, the idea was to turn the camps into fully functioning towns with healthy economies that interacted with the nearby Gemort towns. They had envisioned turning the desert into an oasis of farm lands, markets, and shipping facilities.

“I understand completely.”

A look of relief spread over his face. He had been afraid that they would interpret his request as a complaint about how they were being treated. He didn’t want to complain, it was just that they wanted a better place to live than an old canvas tent.

Hearth Chou said, “It just so happens that I have a nice townhouse available. Are you interested?”

“What’s a townhouse?” he asked.

He came from a rural area that was poor. They didn’t have tract housing or houses built according to various architectural styles. People built their own house with materials gathered locally. There weren’t cut boards or factory made bricks. In his area, they made the bottom of the house from handmade bricks and had a thatched roof that was replaced frequently.

Generally, the houses weren’t big although they did provide enough room for everyone to sleep at night. Days were spent outside working, so the small size wasn’t that much of a problem. Even cooking was usually performed outside. The house was a shelter from weather, a place to store family treasures, a place to sleep, and a place to gather as a family in the late evening.

Hearth Chou said, “Hold on. Let me find a picture of it.”

“Okay,” he replied wondering why she would need picture of something that was around here.

She went over to shelf and pulled down a binder. She walked back to her desk and set the binder down in the middle. She opened it and then turned it so that Jomo could see the content inside the binder. There was a large picture of a townhouse.

“That’s the outside of a townhouse. It’s really a bunch of houses build side-by-side along a street. Here’s the driveway for you to park your car...”

“A car? I don’t have a car.”

“That’s a minor detail,” she said.

“I don’t understand.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Tracing a finger over the photograph, she said, “From the driveway, you’ll walk along a pathway to the front door ... That’s this area right here. That’s how you go into the townhouse.”

Confused, he agreed with her, “Okay.”

His tent had a flap. The hut back at his old place had a door, but it wasn’t it wasn’t like the one in the picture. It was a hide stretched over a frame that he set in place at night. Then he realized the door in the picture looked almost like the door to this building.

“Is the door the same size as the one to this building?”

“Yes.”

“It works just like this one?”

“Yes.”

“And it’s on the house.”

“That’s right.”

She turned to the next picture in the binder. He looked at it closely. That did not look like any room he had ever been in.

“This is a picture of the living room. As you can see, it’s got a nice carpet on the floor. If you don’t like carpet, we have wood or tile floors. Your wife might like the wood floors since they are easy to care for. They are really pretty. That little picture there is one of the wood floors.”

“I don’t know. I wouldn’t want splinters on my feet.”

“You won’t get splinters from that floor,” she said thinking that her sales job wasn’t going very well.

“I don’t believe it,” he said flatly.

“You don’t have to get the wood floor. The room has windows facing the front yard.”

“That’s the only room?” he asked with his brows knitted.

It was hard to tell how big the room was from the picture. It looked a little bigger than the tent, but it was hard to tell. There wasn’t a person in the picture to get a sense of scale.

“No. That’s just the front room,” she turned to the next page. “This is the kitchen.”

He studied the picture carefully. It really didn’t make much sense to him. There were lots of things in it, but he’d never seen those things used.

“Where do you build a fire?” he asked.

“There’s no need to build a fire. It has a stove ... that’s this thing here ... It lets you cook your food without having to build a fire. You just turn it on, it gets hot, and then you cook on it.”

“My wife might like that,” he said in a reserved manner.

“It comes with a refrigerator. Just like the one we have here, except it is smaller. It’s the right size for a family.”

“My wife would really like one of those,” he said much a more positive tone of voice.

His wife was always talking about the wonderful refrigerator they had in the camp. He had to admit that a warm melon was good, but a cold melon on a hot day was great.

“I’m sure she would,” Hearth Chou said. She turned to the next page. She said, “This is the toilet.”

“That’s like the toilets here.”

They had transitioned from the pit toilets to a row of porcelain toilets separated into stalls by small walls. It was enclosed in a large room that also had showers and sinks. They had two of them, one for the men and one for the women. To Jomo, it had been kind of strange using them at first, but the one of the Jade Warriors had explained how to use it.

The picture of the toilet room didn’t have a urinal. He figured that it probably had one somewhere.

“That’s right. It’s just like the toilets here except it is for one person at a time.”

He frowned thinking about the line that could result from having a facility with only one toilet. There were usually a lot of people using the toilets first thing in the morning.

“How far is it from the house?” he asked.

“It’s in the house.”

“We wouldn’t have to leave the house to use it?”

“That’s right.”

“Wow. My wife would really like that. Although having people come into our house to use it wouldn’t be all that good.”

“Only your family would use it. Maybe some guests might need to use it when visiting, but it would be yours alone.”

He looked at the picture of the toilet impressed that a house had its own toilet just for the people living there. That would really impress people.

“That’s some house.”

Suppressing the urge to laugh, Hearth Chou said, “Yes, it is.”

She turned the page and pointed to the picture of a large empty room. She said, “This would be a bedroom for you and your wife.”

“What about the kids? Where would they sleep?”

“There are two more bedrooms. One for each of your kids.”

“I don’t think they would like that. They’d get lonely. We’re used to sleeping together.”

“Well, you could put both of them in the same room,” Hearth Chou said.

She flipped the pages in the binder, showing two separate bedrooms. He looked at the pictures wide-eyed.

“Is that it?”

“There’s a garage,” she said flipping to the last page in the binder.

“It doesn’t look as nice as the other rooms.”

“It’s for storing your car.”

“I don’t have a car,” he said.

“That’s a minor detail. I’m sure that you’ll get a car,” she said.

“I’ll get a car?” he asked wondering why he would need such a thing. He just walked out to his field and back to the main camp. It wouldn’t be possible to drive a car around the camp anyway, there were too many people and tents.

“Well, it’s actually a small electrically powered cart.”

“How much is this going to cost?”

“It comes with a job,” she said.

“What kind of job?”

“Farming,” she said.

“That’s what I already do,” he said.

“Yes, that’s true. You would do farming at a different farm.”

“I already have a farm,” he said. “Why do I need to work on a different farm to get a house?”

“The house is a long way from here,” she answered.

“How far?”

She said, “You’d have to move away from here.”

“I like it here,” Jomo said getting worried. “It’s our home.”

There had been a time when he wanted nothing more than to leave the refugee camp. At first, it had been a place of sheer misery. Then Jade Force had come and changed everything. As time had passed, it had become a home. Now the thought of leaving the refugee camp was hard.

“Well, we’re hoping that a lot of the people from the camp will move there.”

“I haven’t heard that,” he said.

His wife, with her running the restaurant, was usually the first to hear all of the rumors. She hadn’t mentioned anything about people moving away. Hearing this for the first time from Hearth Chou was kind of disturbing.

“You and your family would be among the first people to move there,” she said. “In fact, you’re the first one I’ve told about this.”

“Why would we want to go there? We like it here. We want to stay here. Can’t you build that townhouse here?”

Hearth Chou swallowed heavily. She didn’t think there was a refugee in any camp run by anyone other than Jade Force who would argue that they wanted stay in the refugee camp. It was an offhand compliment for how well they managed the place.