At school the administration announced the names of girls they were going to honour – I heard my name and stepped forward. I was happy and sad at the same time; I felt I needed my dad to be next to me at that moment.
When I got my results my average score was 97 percent and in the mid-term exams I scored an average of 94 percent. My dad would have been very proud of me. The last time he signed my certificate was when I was at second preparatory school, that was about two years ago. Before I went home I visited his grave and showed him my certificate, I asked him if he was happy and I made a promise that I would improve my performance in school. His dream was for me to become a doctor in the future and I am determined to fulfill his dream.
I hope to go on to university and study medicine. We need more doctors now in Iraq and I want to contribute to rebuilding my country. So many people are dying and falling ill and we don’t have access to many medicines, even those that are available most people cannot afford to buy.
My family will support me as best they can as they always have done. All Iraqis, young and old, have gone through many different emotions over the last five years and even now nobody can say how things will turn out.
We all want peace and safety, just like other people across the world. I want to be able to travel across my city into any area without fear of being killed. I want to be able to go the market without fearing a bomb attack. But most of all, I want to live with my family in peace and security, not always fearing for their safety.
Most people my age in Baghdad have had to grow up fast. We have seen death, destruction and our city change beyond anything we could ever imagine.
The day Baghdad fell I remember my father telling me that this city has always attracted the attention of foreign occupiers. But he also told me that one by one they all left.
I am coping with my new life – I don’t know what the future holds for us – but I believe that one day things will get better.
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