She would have to go to the United States for months alone. How would she manage? She knew no English, and her perceptions came from bootlegged Jackie Chan movies and whispers on the street: America was an ugly, scary place, especially for Muslims.
When she returned, would she come back just to be killed in another explosion?
Go, her father said. If she didn't look normal, she would never finish school, and she might never marry. He blamed the Americans too. He would recall seeing their aircraft firing missiles just before the concussion. But her face meant so much.
"You're going to look better," he said. "Your nose will get better. Its beautiful shape will be back."
Fearful arrival
MARWA Naim arrived at Los Angeles International Airport one foggy evening in January. By then, she was 11 but still too young to be alone. She carried all of her belongings in a small bag. She wore a pair of thin brown sandals, cream-colored pants and an old light-blue \o7hijab\f7, the head covering common among Muslim women. It was frayed and had small holes at its edges.
"You must be Marwa," a man said in Arabic. He hugged her and gave her a clutch of red and pink flowers. \o7"Assalamu alaikum, habibi," \f7he said. "May peace be upon you, little girl." He was holding a small photograph of her, taken before her injury. "My name is Mr. Saad. Welcome." He introduced her to his wife, Yabitha, who stood quietly by his side. "We'll be sticking together for a while."
Marwa was afraid. They drove to Saad Alazzawi's home in an old Mercedes. Through the fog, she peered out at a freeway and its maze of speeding cars; at billboards with women in bikinis and men with bare chests; at glowing, red and blue neon signs and thousands of white lights from homes and businesses stretched as far as she could see.
She would remember thinking of home. She wanted to cry.
Saad had emigrated from Iraq in the 1970s. Wiry, with bushy salt-and-pepper brows and piercing eyes, he had spent years running a small Muslim school in South Los Angeles. Then things changed. Now, in the same building, he rented a banquet hall for weddings and \o7quinceanera\f7 parties. Still, he was an eager helping hand in the Muslim community.
Though they shared a homeland, Saad and Marwa were different. He was Sunni and she was Shiite. He was strict and she was headstrong. Saad had a program for her: He would teach her to read and write better Arabic, educate her generally and train her in the ways of the Koran. He would try to keep her happy, in spite of all the medical tribulations she faced.
