Criticism/help for my story?

In class, we are creating a pod-cast about immigration. My groups country is Iraq and i have the job of writing a short story. It has to be about "overcoming adversity" while immigrating to America. This is what i have so far and i don't have a title either so that's open for ideas



The world was small for our family. My mother Farrah, my father Ammar and I have never ventured further than our town, Al-Rutba. We lived in a small slum located in the middle of a town in Iraq that constantly bustled with the sounds of shouting merchants, horse carts, and children playing tag and other games. We had a nice life until one hot humid Thursday while mother and I were at the market, America invaded and trashed our home country, forcing us to go into hiding...



“We have too Ammar! You know we do” “But we cant. We have no money, and besides, it’s too dangerous!” I heard my parents trying to whisper quietly. Although I did not know what they were talking about, I had a feeling it wasn’t good. The other families were long asleep and had not heard my parents discussion. I’m assuming they thought I was asleep too. We lived in a large hole underground to escape the invading armies. When we asked around for a place to take cover, we had heard from some of our neighbors that one family had built a hiding shelter a few months prior to the infiltration of the American troops when rumors about war were at its peak and spreading rapidly. There were three other families that we lived with: middle-aged husband and wife, Vania and Edward. Brothers Rafiu and Mazen and the family that built the hideout: Mustafa, the father, their mother Kelly, and their two teenage children Melody and Hama. The lantern in the corner cast eerie shadows on the wall and I could hear the banging and shouts of the men of war above me. I was frightened.



“Mother?” My voice must have startled her because her voice was small and her eyes big. “Yes Leyla?” “When will this be over...?” I asked. “The war?” Her and Father exchanged glances until Father finally spoke. “Well, we were planning on moving to the States to escape the war.” I was confused “We don’t have enough money for all of us to move. But...” I pulled out the little tin can i usually kept hidden in a little hollowed corner underneath my bed and took out what had been concealed. “I have saved all the money that you ever given me from our weekly trip to the market and have over 350 dinar” Mother was astounded. “That’s enough for your father and we have enough for you and I.”



I slept through the night after a very long and tiring conversation about how we were to travel to America without any legal documentation and not get caught. I was droopy-eyed and exhausted. Mother and Father met with someone late that night to discuss our travel arrangements. They decided we were to leave in two days. I could tell everyone was excited and anticipating the day when we would be free of the war. The next two days was the longest of my life. I lied in bed thinking like I did every day for the last four months.The long-awaited day finally arrived; I was nervous and jittery as the thoughts raced in my mind. Would we get caught? What would happen if we were separated? What will happen to us when we get to this place called New York? We said our goodbyes to the people we had lived with for the past four months and headed out.



We had to travel on 20 miles on foot to a little hideout from town. It was hot and mucky and i got thirsty often. My feet started to hurt and i just wanted to stop and rest. We met with the men Mother and Father had talked to before and proceeded to a city outside of Jordan and Syria. Sneaking past the guards was a little risky because we had to be silent and unseen. There were guards, but not that many. We crossed into Syria just before sunrise and rested in a hole similar to the one we had stayed in. The difference was that it was large and warm with lots of blankets. I didn’t want to leave when Mother woke me up the next night.



I hadn’t realized it before, but the deafening gunshots I had heard just two days ago were being muffled to soft cracks. It calmed me a little to know that our once-peaceful life would soon return to normal. Our group was heading North-West in the direction of the docks, where we to sail to America. There was a car that we took 150 miles closer to the dock. Since there were too many people, we again had to travel the rest of the 53 miles to the docks on foot. I had never been near the ocean and I did not like it at all. The smell of the ocean and fish was not nice.



We had been instructed to a small boat where we were going to travel 2300 miles to a city off the cost of Spain. We were transferred to a larger boat along with a few other illegal migrants and set out for the longest 3200 miles of my life. Father said that it would take months for us to get to New York.



i know there may be grammatical errors, so correct anything.Criticism/help for my story?
AMAZING! just change a few wordes, "lied" to laid

The lantern in the corner cast eerie shadows on the wall and I could hear the banging and shouts of the men of war above me. I was frightened.

Change those sentences to, "The lantern in the corner cast eerie shadows on the wall, and i could hear the banging and shouts from the men of war above me. This frightened me terribly."