The Burdens We Carry
Malika Baz was ten years old when her entire world was torn apart. While her father and two older brothers ran from the US military, Malika’s mother and her younger siblings were taken away from the only home she had ever known. Malika soon learned that her mother had been a U.S. soldier who had been a prisoner of war for the last fifteen years. As a young girl, she didn’t understand what this meant or that her father was to blame for the imprisonment.
​
Over the years, Malika would learn the truth, and even though she and her siblings would go on to live happy lives with their adopted parents, Malika would carry the traumas of her past into adulthood.
​
She could never have guessed that ten years after being taken from her village in Iraq, she would finally have the chance to face the burdens she had carried all these years.
The Burdens We Carry inspiration:
The Burdens We Carry Prologue:
I remember always touching my mother's hands as a little girl. Even though they were stained with dirt, her skin contrasted with my tanned complexion. Her skin reminded me of the milk we often received in the village. We never had many opportunities for fresh milk; when we did have some, there was never enough to go around. With her beautiful hands, my mother always assured my siblings and me that we had our share of milk first. There was never any left for her.
​
As the oldest daughter, I always helped my mother care for the rest of the children. This included keeping a brave face for my mother, the woman with hands like alabaster marble statues I've read about at my university and now have started to sculpt on my own.
​
As a young girl, I sometimes daydreamed about my mother and why she was so different from the rest of us. It wasn't just her skin tone but also her eyes. They were so green; I'm not sure I'd ever seen anything in real life to compare to the green in her eyes. But I would daydream that my mother was a princess my father was tasked with protecting. Yes, my mother, with the alabaster skin and bright green eyes, was a princess hidden from the rest of the world. Because she was good and pure, the world didn't deserve to have her in its presence. Yes, my mother is a princess.
​