Zainab Jawhar
“It’s not clear how much time passed. Perhaps it was only a handful of minutes. Suddenly, she awoke to a burst of pain. Sitting squarely on top of her legs was a shell bomb. Shock and horror. Crushing weight. Loss of consciousness. An errant U.S. shell had crashed through her bedroom wall and landed on top of her as she slept in bed. It did not detonate. If it had, this would be a different story. There would be nothing left to speak of.”
Zainab Jawhar was born and raised in Najaf, Iraq. She graduated from the University of Kufa in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree in education. Shortly after graduation, she was hit by an errant U.S. shell while sleeping in her bed.
Zainab’s Story is a collaboration between Zainab Jawhar and Clare Beer. It would not have been possible without the help of Sami Rasouli, Luke Wilcox, Anne Nettles, Alex Potter, and many others involved with the Iraqi and American Reconciliation Project. We are grateful to them for bringing Zainab to us, and for advocating so compassionately on behalf of all Iraqis.
Clare Beer was born and raised in Saint Paul, Minnesota. She graduated from Marquette University in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in Latin American Studies. She is currently the technical writer and copy editor for the Veterans Book Project, run by Monica Haller.
Zainab asked us to write this story on her behalf for a couple of reasons: she is not fluent in English (we are not fluent in Arabic), and currently she is focused on larger matters– namely, learning how to walk with new prosthetic limbs. What does it mean to tell a story on behalf of someone else? The ethics of representation are complex, particularly when they cross the great divides of language and culture. How do we reach across these divides to really see another’s perspective? And once we see it, how do we transmit it in a dignified and accurate way? In writing this book, we ask ourselves these questions. Our hope is that it can be an entrance into healing and dialogue for her and us.
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Your support will help more Americans hear Zainab’s story and will help others tell their stories of war and healing.
Selected Excerpts:
“The accident had officially taken everything from her: independence, health, dignity, and now, the future. She felt an enormous separation from other people: the normal, healthy ones, and her. In a country where tragedy is commonplace and hundreds of people die gruesomely everyday, the handicapped are easily forgotten. Disability is its own kind of death.”
“The reality is that she did not get a set of “new legs,” but rather a set of new prostheses which are artificial and, therefore, second best. Even American-made prostheses cannot buy a free pass to her old life. The accident and its handicapping consequences will never be erased. In her country especially, Zainab is another hapless casualty of war. Currently, there is no system that gives value to the tens of thousands of men, women and children who have been injured, maimed and disabled. Though Zainab may now be able to walk the length of a classroom unassisted, she cannot change the home she returns to and the problems that persist there: political instability, a limping economy, and a society that cloisters its handicapped. “
“Zainab carries these new impressions home with her, motivated to act on them. There is much work to be done on behalf of Iraq’s disabled population and she wants to be involved in it. Her own future demands that she be. For the first time in six years, Zainab has hope and purpose again: real work awaits. What she has endured, and what she will continue to have to endure as a double amputee in Iraq, is immeasurable. Like her country, she finds herself at a crossroads now, teetering on the cusp of another big change. “
