Five hours later, the surgery was over and her mother came in to see Roza. No amount of strength can relieve a mother’s burden of seeing her baby after major surgery. The sight is both relieving and painful. Now Roza’s broken heart was healed. Her surgery was a success.

Roza’s mother had to make a serious decision. Her year-old baby girl only weighed 11 pounds (5 kilograms). She was born with a hole between the two lower chambers of her heart, and doctors said the vital organ was now failing. In Roza’s country of Iraq there were no medical means to save her. With no time to spare, Roza’s mother made up her mind. The only option was Israel.

Roza’s mother had never before left her region of Kurdistan, but was strong and calm as she traveled to the Jordan River border crossing with her wheezing baby in her arms. Stoic, suspicious and heavily-armed guards waited, enough to intimidate even experienced Western travelers. The guards knew that Shevet Achim regularly brings Iraqi children through the border, but security protocols for visitors from an “enemy state” remained unchanged. Probing questions were made even more difficult by the need for translation, but Roza’s mother upheld her strength—a miserable and deteriorating daughter required it. Even the guards could not help but soften their demeanors upon the sight of baby Roza. Once through the border to Israel, the Shevet Achim workers took Roza directly to the Sheba Medical Center in Tel Aviv.

Roza’s fragile state was undeniable, and doctors immediately admitted her to the hospital. Equally undeniable was her mother’s continued calm. She was a soothing presence for her daughter. When the nurse came to whisk Roza away for emergency open–heart surgery, her little head was sealed with a mother’s greatest blessing and mark of love—a kiss.

An Extraordinary Encounter

A Fragile Canvas

A Mother’s Strength

An Orthodox Jewish family waiting next to them one day was extremely interested in Roza and her mother. The father of the family turned out to be half-Iraqi, and beamed with love for his fellow Iraqi--regardless of her different religion. Preligion. Proudly wearing his Jewish kippa, and loving the woman proudly wearing her Muslim head covering, the father and his family asked many questions about Roza and Shevet Achim, and gladly posed for a picture. Such a memomemory, we pray, will stay with Roza’s mother and be shared with Roza as she grows. Such an example of loving your neighbor is the inspiration and meaning of Shevet Achim.

Many days of recovery followed for Roza and her mother in the hospital in this foreign land. Sharing with a mother in the anxiety and strife of a child’s heart surgery develops a strong bond, even between strangers. For Roza’s mother, with or without translated words, she radiated appreciation and love. A hug from this type of love transcends the obligatory and courteous. It is a love that says, “I value your life.”

Baby Roza:an urgent transformation

It is a love that says, “I value your life.”