In case you are wondering, several of my co-workers (and friends) have been asking me about "whatever became of that young Muslim woman who had been so horribly burned by her jealous husband". Well, here is the update.
October 2002:
Fahid Al Mahood is out of the hospital now, but she is still facing outpatient treatments; and she just had her latest surgery last week. She came to the outpatient clinic today, and she is healing nicely; but her emotions are still a wreck.
To go back in time, I'll have to briefly touch on her story again.
Fahid was living here in the United States with her husband, Amir, and their baby son, Amir, Jr., and their life was NOT a pleasant one. Amir was prone to fits of jealousy and rage, and he treated his wife like an animal. To him, she was nothing more than a piece of property, and he belittled and abused her constantly. More than once, he beat her severely, sometimes so badly she ended up in the hospital. Well, about 4 months ago, he got mad at her when she was caught talking to the mailman (he supposedly thought that Fahid was having an "affair"); and so, in his anger, he threw some kind of acid at her, burning her face, neck, chest, and one arm. She was in the hospital a little over 3 months; but she still faces years of reconstructive surgery. She is understandably severely facially disfigured, and she now has a permanent tracheostomy because of the damage instilled to her throat. She is just learning to talk again.
(Fahid and Amir are originally from Tehran, Iran; they came to America five years ago, and a year ago, they had a baby boy, Amir, Jr.)
And her husband is presently in jail, where he is facing a battery of charges of abuse and domestic violence. (He could be in jail for a very long time as a result of the damage he inflicted on his wife.) As for their son, tiny Amir, Jr. is presently in foster care until his mother is well enough to take care of him.
As you can very well imagine, Fahid is devastated. She misses her son terribly, and each glance into the mirror is like a hurtful slap; she is no longer beautiful, and she is ashamed of how she looks. She mainly stays in her house, afraid to venture outside, for fear that people "will say things" or run away from her. She only ventures outside for doctor's appointments or for surgeries, such as the one she just had one week ago.
Fahid may be scarred, but to me she is a beautiful woman with a courageous spirit. She has luminous green-brown eyes under heavy, lashed lids, a straight, strong nose, a shy, tentative smile, and gorgeous wavy hair that she keeps hidden underneath her Muslim style garb. (Muslim women are not allowed to show their face in public other than their eyes; to them, this is an unpardonable sin.) I am one who has certainly tried to help her cope with her abusive past, and I have been among the first to help her overcome the trauma; and I have done my best to try to build her fragile self esteem back up. She has learned to trust in me, and we have since become good friends.
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Reviewed by Deirdre Barringer
10/9/2002
What a sad story. This woman seems so strong and courageous and lucky to have a friend like you.I am compelled to read more of your work. Looking at the left hand od the web page, I see many stories I'm interested in reading.
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