How Zahra Changed My Life

Growing up, my family and I always did volunteer work, which got me into the habit of helping others. When I was in 6th grade, my mom got involved with an organization that brought refugees from the Middle East to the United States for medical treatment. My mother and step dad offered to foster a girl from Iraq, Zahra, whose family passed away from a car bomb, and to pay for the medical treatment she needed. Her father, brother, mother, and grandmother were all in the car, once her father turned the car on the front of the car exploded. Her internal organs needed reconstruction due to shrapnel and her brother lost his arm. She was only 13 at the time of the incident and her brother was 10, and they were the only survivors. Living with Zahra for a year was an adjustment since she spoke a very different dialect of Arabic than us, but my family and I learned how to speak her dialect to make things easier for her. Everyday I would see how grateful and appreciative she was towards my family and I, which made my heart to become full of warmth. My mom and I would have to help her change the bandages and try to teach her as much English as we can, while Zahra would tell us how her entire life changed in one day. Realizing what she has been through opened my eyes, she was …show more content…
This made me extremely grateful for everything that I have in my life and caused me to use the privileges I have to help others. Not all kids around the world have a house to sleep in or food on the table. Zahra taught me how to value the important things in my life, such as my parents, home, and the free education I am receiving, which encouraged me to become a pediatrician. It is my duty as a person with so many privileges in life to help