My Hospital Experience--By Clara :P, PS: I died!!!

Hi, its Clara again, obviously by the title! Right now, I am going to tell you about an epic journey I made. Okay, okay. Its not really "epic" but I'm going to tell you a true story about a girl named Thouha.



Thouha, an Iraqi 10 year old girl, has been around war since she was the age of 5. Feb. 4, 2008, Thouha was about to experiance what war can do to you. She had been sent by her family to the gas station to get gas. She had been sent at the wrong time. A suicide bombing took place right then and there where she was. The gas station. Flames had now covered her legs. Frantically, she waved her hands around her legs, trying to put the fire out. She was picked up by a solider who put out the flames, then rushed her to the hospital. 36 had died in the suicide attack.



Onto another story. There is a brother in our branch who works for United Airlines and owns his own charter company. (I don't know what a charter company means), hes a pilot. His name is Brother Gibb. Linda Shammari (also known as Sister Linda and who has a daughter named Reem that I'm friends with) works for Brother Gibb. Sister Linda arranges the flights for Brother Gibb. It just so happend that Thouha's flight was going to be on a flight with Brother Gibb. Sister Linda and Brother Gibb had been informed of the situation and that Kuwait was one of her stops for 2 days, then onto the Boston hospital. She had 3rd degree burns all over her legs. She couldn't sit up, lie down properly etc. And whats even worse, she wasn't eating. They had to put a feeding tube into her body, which would mean more time for her to heal from her burns. She also couldn't use her hands as well as we can use ours. Since she tried to put the flames out with her hands, her hands had been burned as well. Reem, Sister Linda and I had all planned to go see her the night she came into Kuwait, until we heard the news.



Feb. 11, 2008 Thouha came in to Kuwait and had a horrid fever. It was so high, that she could die. And what didn't make it better, she still wasn't eating. She had been placed in the ICU. So be it for getting to see her that day.



Feb. 12, 2008 Reem, Sister Linda and I all got to go see Thouha. She was still in the ICU, but the worst of the fever was over. The only reason she was in the ICU still is because they wanted to keep close watch on her. Sister Linda and Reem had bought the mom some treats, Thouha a backpack, colored pencils, markers, crayons, coloring books etc. So we got to the hospital and the nurses said she was in one place, then a lady named Beckham led us there. Then the people there told us she was somewhere else. So did the next people. After about going 3 places, the people at the fourth place were like, "she's on the sixth floor". And she was on the part of the 6th floor, you couldn't get to by elevator. It was only like 80 steps.



By this time, we are feeling very dishearted. We go up to the sixth floor, and there are rooms, blinds shut. Beckham knocks on them, seeing if somebody will open them and we can see Thouha. 1st window fails, 2nd window fails, 3rd time is always the charm. Reem looked under the blinds, and theres a girl. Beckham knocks at the window, as I'm looking through the blinds, and Thouha looks at us. Reem and I got kindve scared. The nurse opened up the windows and we saw her. Not the legs, just her. We saw the way her legs were positioned. Just spread out. And she raised her hand to wave at us, it was wrapped in a cast and, oh I just felt so bad for her.



Traditionally, when Arabs see a friend, they call their name and then the go cheek to cheek and do one of the following things.

1) make a kissing noise in the other persons ear or

2) Kiss the other person on the cheek.



The mother of Thouha came. Sister Linda and Reem do number 2 and mother (meaning Thouhas mom) does 2 back. Then, Sister Linda intoduced me and this the mom came up to me. I did number 1 to her and she did number 2 to me. That being my first time, it felt so weird. And the mom smelt HORRIBLE!!!!!! Like she hadn't taken a shower in days, maybe even WEEKS. So, Sister Linda showed her what we had bought for her and we also showed Thouha and she seemed very exicted. Sister Linda spoke some Arabic to her through the window and she spoke some Arabic back. And whats even better news, while we were there, occasionally, Thouha would slip a potato chip or two in her mouth! But in just an instant, she started crying a little bit. Sister Linda thinks because she wanted her mom in the room with her. I can imagine why.



Then we left. I felt so glad, that I don't have to live in a sitiuation like that. Where war is everywhere you go. I also feel so glad, that I got the chance to see what war can do to people, and to see what destruction can be caused.



Okay, so now you've heard it. The tale of Thouha. Please comment!!!