Maka and her mother, Alice, arrived in March. There was the expected cultural awkwardness at first, and Maka, now 5 1/2 , missed her father and little sister back home. Lizi Cline, 15, remembers Maka asking in accented English when she would look pretty again. And at first, she was terrified about going to the hospital.
"She saw a white coat and she cried," said Dr. Jeffrey Hammoudeh, her reconstructive surgeon.
Maka's injuries were extreme, said Hammoudeh. She had burns and scars on two-thirds of her face, and her upper body and arms. He operated first on one side of the face, then the other, with a third surgery on one arm.
"We used a face lift, pulled things into position," he said. "We did a neck lift, we borrowed tissue from the back of the head and moved things around."
Maka was tough, never complaining about the pain, and she became much friendlier as her appearance improved and her broad smile returned.
"Now she gives me a hug," said Hammoudeh.
Two more operations are scheduled for July, one on her arm and another on her face, and then she and her mother will be going back home.
Already, Susan Cline is having a twinge of separation anxiety. The Clines and Chawonekas quickly settled into a nice routine, with Susan taking Maka to the hospital with her each morning either to see doctors or attend the special school on the Childrens Hospital grounds. When Alice stayed behind, church members would pick her up for outings, or she'd cook dishes native to her country, filling the house with exotic scents.
"The house smells good every day," said Susan Cline. "Alice cooks more often, and better, than I do."
Maka saw an ocean for the first time, racing into the surf in Ventura even though the water was frigid. She likes French fries, reading books, swimming in the backyard pool, eating popcorn and watching "SpongeBob." Her favorite movies are "Grease" and "Hairspray," and last week the family was packing for a trip to the Grand Canyon, with Disneyland or Yosemite next up in their travels. On Sundays, they all go to church together.
At the Cline house Wednesday, pigtailed Maka was wearing her Easter dress and fancy shoes, watching TV and then flipping through photos of herself on Lizi's computer. She showed off her bedroom, with its colony of stuffed animals, but said she prefers sleeping in the next room over, with "my mommy."
"I didn't know what to expect," Alice said of her arrival in March. "They've been very open, very comforting."
