Worried Man Finds Sister in Kuwaiti News Photo as She Welcomes G.I.s
For seven months, Mohamed Samia scanned news reports for a sign that his sister and her family were surviving the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait city.
His search ended when he saw a photograph from Kuwait in the Washington Post showing a woman he is certain is his sister, Mona Al-Hagad.
The woman in the photo was offering rose water, a traditional Kuwaiti sign of welcome, to an American GI after the liberation of her country.
“I can’t explain to you how I feel,” said Samia, 33, a photographer. “I haven’t heard from her since the beginning of the war. “
Samia, a native Egyptian who became an American citizen 10 years ago, said the last time he spoke with his sister was by telephone, when the Iraqis invaded Kuwait Aug. 2.
“She was panicking,” he said. “She was scared to death, screaming, crying. She was telling me that tanks were in the middle of the street, that there was lots of looting and theft.”
Samia said he tried to console his sister, 37 years old and a mother of six, but he was helpless.
The next day he tried to telephone her but communications had been cut off into the city.
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