In Yemen, the civil war had broken out. Houthi rebels were in the streets, and our neighboring countries sent airstrikes. Schools were closed. Gasoline was hard to find. Water reserves were bombed, which caused the largest cholera outbreak in world history. My mother decided we must move back to America, where I was born. Since the airport had been destroyed by airstrikes, we could only escape by bus, traveling all the way to Saudi Arabia.

My mother, younger siblings, and I began a two-day trip on a rundown bus, in extreme heat, with a lot of rebel checkpoints. I remember one checkpoint. Two people came onto the bus. One of them was a boy who looked the same age as me, 16. There was an AK47 behind his back. I felt pity, seeing someone had been taught to be violent at such a young age. I thought I could have been in his position if I were not an American citizen. As we traveled through the desert, all I did was stare at insects being squished on the bus windshield.

I want to say that this journey made me stronger. But the sadness I feel for the people we left behind, and for the boy my age with the AK47 who was in a war he didn’t start, still haunts me. This is especially since after we arrived safely back in New York City, I learned all the teenage boys from my village had been rounded up and forced to join the rebels.

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AbuBakr Aljahmi was born in Brooklyn, raised in Yemen, and returned to Brooklyn in 2016. Arabic is his first language. After graduating from high school, he has been studying computer science. His hobby is studying world history, specifically wars and great empires. He also enjoys trying new foods and reading mangas. He studies in Caryn Davis’s CLIP class at CUNY’s City Tech. Gil Gerena is the director of education programs.