Rana knew many songs by heart and recited both the Arabic and English alphabets, but when the time came for her to join school she was afraid to go. Rana barely speaks because she is so shy. When she does finally speak, she has a quiet whisper of a voice that is barely audible.
Three years ago, while Rana’s mother, Siham, was cooking for her family in their small town near Homs in Syria, she heard the noise of jets heading towards them and dread settled in her stomach. She felt the ground rumble beneath her as bombs began to bombard their town.
Rana was only three at that time and doesn’t remember much about the accident, but her mother is still haunted every day by what she can only describe as the most terrifying night of her life.
After the first few bombs went off, her children were panic-stricken and wanted to get out of their house. In the chaos, the boiling vat of water on her stove fell all over Rana, burning the entirety of her arms and chest.
Rana’s mother says that she sometimes wakes up in the middle of the night and can still hear Rana’s screams ringing in her ears.
The barrage of rockets outside their house continued. The blasts battled their senses, as Rana screamed in agony. Siham and her husband did not know what to do. They desperately wanted to get Rana to the hospital, but the bombs outside kept raining down on their hometown. In desperation, they applied yogurt onto Rana’s burns as she continued to screech in agony.
When the bombs finally died down six hours later, the family rushed Rana to their local hospital. She received emergency surgery at the time, but needed further treatments. The family couldn’t take the anxiety of living in their home any more. Fearing for their lives, they fled to Lebanon.
The scars across her arms and chest are tight. She can barely move underneath her arms because her flesh has stuck together around her armpit - restricting her movement. The skin on her chest is extremely tight−which will likely cause her a lot of problems as she grows.
Rana’s life in Lebanon is tough. She is too afraid to go to school because of the bullying. She’s painfully shy, and obviously conscious about the way that she looks.
Her family lives in a three-roomed house, which is shared by 18 people. It’s the only way the family can afford to live there. Rana misses her old house and her grandparents who are still in Syria.
Rana often stares at the mirror and draws pictures of girls and boys holding their bags while going to school in the morning. She draws herself among them as a good-looking girl dressed in a tidy uniform with a wide smile on her face.
Original story published in Arabic in Save the Children website
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