 
"Dr. Fred, we just got a call from Myriam
at Global Exchange. They're flying a very special Iraqi woman to
the States for a speaking tour and she's got a nasty toothache.
Any way you could squeeze her in?"
With that question from our office manager, Kathie, we began a journey
into inter-cultural understanding, and our own humanity.
At 7:30 the next morning (2 and a half hours earlier than our usual
start time) we met that "very special Iraqi woman" - Nermin
Al-Mufti. Nermin is a prolific journalist, speaking and writing
for the last 20 years about issues ranging from corruption, to the
environment, to the role of women in Muslim society, to nutrition.
She is also a mother, raising a son since infancy on her own in
a country where, because of international sanctions, she was unable
to buy vitamins for her child.
When Nermin first arrived, she was not unlike many people on their
maiden voyage to a dentist in a strange country, or even people
on a maiden voyage to a dentist in their own country. She was a
tad apprehensive, not to mention in pain. Her round, dark eyes spoke
volumes, as did her hands, which moved in rhythm with her remarkably
good English. We listened as she told of us of the throbbing in
the upper right portion of her mouth.
As Nermin settled into our comfy dental chair, and was covered with
a warm blanket, she began to breathe with a bit more ease. Soon,
her fear was replaced with relaxation, then comfort and finally,
during a difficult procedure where Dr. Fred surgically removed three
metal posts from her molar, sleep. When it was over, Nermin wanted
everyone to see the twisted metal, which looked more like old paper
clips than a dental material, and which had aggravated her delicate
tissues. Nermin wanted everyone to know that Dr. Fred and Chantal,
our dental assistant, were "so gentle, so wonderful."
The metal wire technique of root canal ("silver points")
went out of fashion in North America about 50 years ago, once the
propensity of the technique to yield infection was better understood.
Unfortunately for Nermin, and who knows how many others, it is still
used in Iraq.
After her dental work was over, Nermin talked with us of her life,
her observations, and her experience under the prior political regime
in Iraq. She also told us how difficult it is to live in Baghdad
right now, how dangerous, uncertain and chaotic a place it is. She
spoke of concern for her son, who is an engineering student at Baghdad
University. She also rattled off statistics about infant mortality
in Iraq and told us how Iraq had become the planet's third worst
place to live in terms of education, medical care and other basic
human services, surpassed only by Bangladesh and Eritrea. She hugged
us. We hugged her back.
After the hugs, there were tears. While we had treated Nermin to
a few hours of dental bliss in Berkeley, she had given us a much
more profound gift: an opportunity to remember that in giving to
others we connect with what it means to be alive. We cried with
her for her country, we cried with her as Mothers, we cried with
her as fellow human beings.
 For
more information about the organization which sponsored Nermin's
U.S. speaking tour, please visit Global Exchange's web site at:
www.globalexchange.org.
This article appears on our web site with Nermin Al-Mufti's permission. |
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