To punish Iraq for invading Kuwait, the United Nations imposed economic sanctions. This meant no foreign imports were coming in, and the country was growing poorer because it couldn’t sell its exports to others. You’d go into a store and there’d be no clothes. You’d go to a pharmacy and there’d be no medicine.

In 2000, I was studying English at university in the capital city, Baghdad, when my grandfather passed away. I learned my father was coming back from the United States for the funeral. My friends were so excited for me—they knew I hadn’t seen or heard from him in a decade. “He’s going to bring you so much nice stuff,” they’d say. “He’ll be so happy to see you.” But I remember when I finally saw him, and ran to hug him, he showed no emotion. It was like he was really upset, like he didn’t know me. I was hurt, but when we sat down to talk about things, my sadness turned to shock. He said he had been writing to me for years, that he had been sending money for my mom and me, and never once heard from us.

We had never received anything! His mail never made it to us! When I told him this, he started to cry and promised we would try to be a family from now on. He had to return to the United States, but we weren’t allowed to come with him—he still needed to stay in the country longer first. But he called as much as he could and he stayed a part of my life.