In the mem­ory of my teacher and a fel­low aid worker col­league Mrs. M. Hassan

Mrs. Has­san was my Eng­lish teacher in The British Coun­cil in Bagh­dad in Al-Wazirya dis­trict, I remem­ber her years ago with her Irish accent telling me it’s not Impor­tant how many words I must learn but the pro­nun­ci­a­tion of the words I already knew must be perfected.

Mrs. Has­san speak s per­fect Ara­bic and she has a heart of gold, she’s been kid­napped today killed by (men in paja­mas), turn Iraq upside down and save her find them.

I send you a decrepit flower
That nature sent to me
At part­ing — she was going south
And I designed to stay –

Her motive for the sou­venir
If sen­ti­ment for me
Or cir­cum­stances pru­den­tial
With­held invincibly –

Emily Dick­in­son