Widad's Memoirs - Chapter 5

My mother was a very strong woman. Even though my father was in the US working, saving and sending us money to support us and coming back whenever possible, my mother took care of us the best she could essentially by herself.  Besides Leila, Sue and me, she lost six baby girls. (My brother and one stillborn male baby, round out the 11 pregnancies that my mother had in total). My mother lost 7 babies in all.  She delivered all of her children naturally and without anesthesia assisted by midwifes; she suffered very much. We would hear her screams and would feel bad. The only deliveries I remember were Lemia and Baha, both who died at 18 months of age. 

On September 18, 1945, my father sent immigration papers for us so we could be with him in the United States. My great uncle and his wife took us to Haifa to board a Swedish cruise liner called Grimsham. We were sad to leave our relatives; they cried and so did we. We left Haifa in the afternoon. The cabin had 4 bunk beds; we were very comfortable. They had all kinds of food, although none of us could eat due to motion sickness. All we ate was fruit.

We got to Ellis Island on October 10, 1945. The Red Cross was handing out coffee and donuts. I remember getting our picture taken with Leila and me, and my mother holding Sue.  I was 16, Leila 14 and Sue 4. My father did not have an apartment for us, so we had to live with our uncle and his family for almost a month. My uncle Jaghab’s wife took my father to buy groceries all the time. Also sheets, towels, you name it, but never spending a dime out of her pocket. We finally moved out to a house in West Hempstead that we found was for rent. We were very happy.  It was a big house and fit us all.'

Editorial:  Apparently my father found the time and without haste got my mother pregnant soon after arriving in the US……I was born on November 18^th, 1946.  David