I have so many mixed emotions about this. My one thought that is not conflicted is how terribly angry I am that we ever went into Iraq. How was it we could not and still cannot stop it?
Angela Cara Pancrazio
The Arizona Republic
Dec. 23, 2006 12:00 AM
Hussein Yasser came into this country scarred and blinded by a land mine in his homeland, Iraq.
...snip
Eye doctors replaced Hussein's scarred cornea with a new cornea. They cleaned out the stones, dirt and shrapnel in his left eye. They fitted the eye with a hard contact lens.
They created a right eye socket and lid where there was none, one that now holds a dark-brown prosthetic eye to match his other eye. After plastic surgery, there are fewer scars on his face, and the cleaverlike gash on his head is covered with his thick black hair. They designed a left forearm prosthetic just for him.
...snip
Hussein noodles the piano keys with his right hand. He picks out notes and begins to sing the 1970s song, Lean on Me.
"Sometimes in your life, we all have pain, we all have sorrow but ...," Hussein stopped and tried to remember the song.
For the past year, Hussein has lived with Debra Karam and her husband, Ray, in their Peoria home. She began caring for Hussein as a "host mom" for Healing the Children, the "mom" who took over the day-to-day care of Hussein.
She taught Hussein how to play piano scales. Hussein mimicked Ray's guitar playing. Hussein learned how to work a CD player. By listening to music and singing along, Hussein memorized lyrics. He picked up more and more English.
...snip
A year is a long time to be out of school, so as he learned more English, he joined the third-grade class at Paseo Verde Elementary School in Peoria.
At home and school, Hussein writes his name in English and Arabic so that he doesn't lose his first language. Whenever he calls his parents in Iraq, he speaks Arabic.
"He's a symbol of what people can do when they have a vision and a dream for a kid and when a kid has his own dream," Snodgrass said. "It shows what you can do, what human nature can do and what the human spirit can do.
...snip
The boy who grabbed onto her arm to walk now runs by himself down the sidewalk to pick up the mail after school.
Along the way, he throws in a ninja kick or two.
One of his favorite books is Night of the Ninjas, from the Magic Treehouse Series.
His favorite movie, Superman Returns. His favorite superhero, Superman.
Hussein's favorite place in Arizona is Chuck E. Cheese. That is where he celebrated his 11th birthday.
And last Saturday, Hussein's contact lens fell out while playing with other kids at a Christmas party. He just kept on playing, not realizing he had lost the lens.
After coming so far, soon it will be time for Hussein to go back to his family.
He will return to a wartorn country where the airport near his hometown in Najaf province is shut down.
In the next few months, somehow, his father will have to make his way to a neighboring country to pick up his son.
"When I do hear his parents on the phone, it's a reminder that this is where he needs to go," Karam said. "They're waiting for him."
Dream to regain vision
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