Thura's diary documents her life in Iraq during the US invasion in 2003. She shows incredible courage facing constant danger from bombs and violence as she shelters with her grandmother and helps care for her family. Throughout the diary entries, Thura risks her life to check on friends at her school and brings calm to her family during scary situations, putting their safety above her own. Her determination to continue her education and become a chemist, despite challenges, further demonstrates her strength of character.
1. Thura’s Diary My life in Iraq By Thura Al-Windawi Presentation by Charlotte Del Col
2. March 19th 2003 Thura has to leave her house to go to her grandmother’s house and realizes that she might never see her dad or her dogs ever again. Bombs could go off at any second. Thura shows courage because she could have sacrificed both her and her entire family’s lives. Timeline March 24th 2003 Thura left her Grandmother’s house to go back to her school to check on her friends and to get their phone numbers so they can stay in touch. Thura shows courage in this chapter when she goes to see her friends. There were many bombs going off along the way and Thura is lucky to be alive. March 20th 2003 Thura hears lots of shooting outside. There is a lot of talk about missiles. There are buildings like banks and military offices burning down and B52s (planes with bombs) were sent in. Thura shows courage because throughout the chapter, her life is put in danger., April 2nd 2003 Three missiles fly over Thura’s house. The power goes out in the house and there are windows smashed and people are going around an stealing things. Lots of friends and neighbors are dead. At one point the roof seemed as if it were about to cave or fall in. Thura’s slower sister asks Thura to stay with her and Thura does even though the roof could cave in and kill her.
3. Timeline May 14th 2003 Thura goes to BBC all by herself to try to become a journalist. She has to do this because since her dad’s unemployed and her family needs money. To do this job Thura might have to give up college or her friends. If Thura gave up college she wouldn’t be able to become a chemist and she’d be giving up on her dream. That takes true courage. April 4th 2003 Thura left for her Grandmother’s house again. There was a HUGE possibility of bombing and Thura and her family would be right under it. Thura had to keep her family calm without freaking out herself. Her aunt and uncle were missing and her family was really worried. In all of these situations Thura could have died but, she had courage in keeping her act together. May 5th 2003 Thura’s Dad becomes unemployed and Thura can’t do ANYTHING about it. There are people dead everywhere including a lot of friends and neighbors. Thura is also worried about her 2 sisters that want to go back to school even though Thura and her mother believe that it is not safe. Thura had to spend a lot of time staying and cleaning around the house and pretend that nothing bad was going on even though terrible things were happening all around her. She comforted her friends and family. She didn’t have any comfort. To me, that is very courageous.
4. Timeline May 15th 2003 Thura has to clean and she cuts her toe on a piece of glass really badly and just continues helping her mom and her sisters. Thura showed courage when she cut her toe. She cared more about helping her family that helping herself. May 16th 2003 When Thura woke up and her toe was hurting she couldn’t find any antiseptic. She went to the hospital to see if there was any and she found a lot of patients dead and very few nurses/doctors. Thura tried to help some patients instead of worrying about the patients. That shows a TON of courage.
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6. Thura’s dream room would probably be a science lab but also very relaxed and animal friendly. There might be some women’s rights activist names along the walls. There might also be some journalist materials like a camera or a pad and paper.
7. Hero Button My hero button for Thura includes a chemist flask, a diploma, a puppy, a Disney sign and the words determination and intelligence. I included the chemist’s flask because Thura wishes to become a chemist and she is studying to be one now. I put a diploma on my button because at some point, Thura is going to get her diploma and become a chemist. I put a puppy on Thura’s button because Thura loves dogs. I put a Disney sign on the button because in hard times Disney movies would always make Thura and her sisters feel better. I put the words determination and intelligence on this button because those are the two character traits that I chose for Thura. DETERMINATION INTELLIGENCE
8. The Refuge Cafe Chemist coffee Pup cakes The sister salad Blackout beans Firecracker shrimp Mickey Mouse Waffles Thura was and is studying to be a chemist. During the bombing he was not able to study but now she is studying in the states. Thura spent a lot of the book in the dark huddled together with her family. Beans are also a pretty traditional Iraqi dish Thura had/has two dogs that she loved very much and almost had to give up twice in this story. During the book, there were firecrackers and guns going off almost the entire time Thura also had two sisters: Aula and Sama These two helped her a lot to get through a lot of the hard times their family experienced during this book. This salad is also an Iraqi salad. Whenever Thura’s sisters or even Thura was sad or scared they would watch Walt Disney movies to help ease their fears.
9. musical introduction Lyrics to I’m not Afraid by Eminem I'm not afraid to take a stand
Everybody come take my hand
We'll walk this road together, through the storm
Whatever weather, cold or warm
Just let you know that, you're not alone. These lyrics talk about how you are not alone and that people are there by your side helping you through your struggles. Thura would support this because she would feel like people are standing by her, throughout her struggles. I did not include the song in this PowerPoint because some parts are VERY explicit. This part has meaning.
10. Extra Extra My extra extra is a FAKE news clip from Iraq news today (again not real). Thura really just wants to write in life and being a journalist was her second choice so this clip feature two people Robert Vichyssoise and Lady Lollipop. Who report what went on in Iraq in 2003. The purpose of the beginning is to set the mood. The scenario is: someone is having a party, music fun. Then the bomb alarm goes off hence, destroying the party.
