Stories

At least Aicha was no longer being hurt, and she even started learning to read, play games and make friends. But then she grew ill. A brain tumour began to wither her already frail body, and she ended up in a Casablanca government hospital. Despite bedside pleas from her caregivers, she refused to offer any hints of her origins beyond her father’s first name. All they knew was that she was a Berber, and that her accent was most likely from the High Atlas Mountains.

… So on Aicha’s death certificate, she was listed–no more, no less–as “Aicha Bint Ahmed.” Aicha, daughter of Ahmed.’