Their journey across the world had been long and arduous, but the first dinner the Abu alroos family had in Chicago was a reminder of home.
Maqluba, which means “upside down,” is a Palestinian dish made of rice, potatoes and vegetables and is flipped upside down when served, hence the name. And its preparation is more than just about cooking food, Haneen Abu alroos told the Tribune through an interpreter.
“The whole process of making it is a labor of love,” Abu alroos said. “It’s a difficult thing to make and it’s a difficult dish to perfect. You can flip it around and it could just flop.”
The Musleh family of Palos Park had prepared it for a special occasion this time: welcoming Haneen Abu alroos, 36, and her children, Baraa, 7, and little sister, Elaf, 3, to Chicago. The family arrived in July from Egypt, where they had fled from Gaza amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
Now, nearly two months after the Abu alroos family arrived, they have settled into their new normal. The Musleh family is hosting them while Baraa undergoes months of medical treatment and physical therapy for an arm fracture and leg amputation, injuries he endured after their house in Rafah was bombed in March.
The families cook and eat together and accompany Baraa and Elaf to doctors’ appointments.
Nida Musleh, who is hosting the family along with her husband and children, said they have spent the past weeks reassuring them and helping them to adjust.
“The first day they came it was raining really bad with thunderstorms,” Musleh remembered. “The little girl hears the thunder and says, ‘Oh, bombing?’ Every time an airplane passes by, ‘Are they gonna bomb here?’ Everything, they tie it with what’s going on there.”
But she said time has helped.
“It’s better (now),” Musleh said. “When they hear the thunder, they know it’s thunder.”
Israel launched its bombardment on Gaza after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, where the group killed some 1,200 people and took 250 hostages. Since then, more than 40,000 people have died in Gaza, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which calls it a mass humanitarian catastrophe.
1 of 5
Haneen Abu alroos said that the family had managed for the first few months of the war, getting by on canned food. She said she would try to distract her children from the sounds of bombs, but in March, the Abu alroos family’s home was bombed, along with the homes of many of their neighbors.
The family is now in Chicago thanks to HEAL Palestine, an Ohio-based organization that is helping injured Gazan children and their families evacuate and receive free medical treatment, coordinating their applications for visas and travel to the United States. Since March, the nonprofit has brought three Palestinian children and their families to Chicago to heal from injuries they sustained in Gaza.
The Abu alroos family was the second to come to Chicago for treatment, a journey they’d been nervous to take, they said. But when they arrived on July 7 at O’Hare International Airport, dozens of community members welcomed them.
“Everyone is calling Baraa’s name and everybody’s cheering for him — that he’s a hero, and just hold on and be strong,” Haneen Abu alroos said. “They started to say, ‘You’re like our family, you’re like our family.’”
Over the summer, the younger Musleh kids have entertained Baraa and Elaf. Baraa took a special liking to Ameen, 17, who lets Baraa tag along when he spends time with friends. And Elaf found a big sister figure in Tasneem, 17, Ameen’s twin sister.
On Fridays, the Musleh family tries to plan an outing — to the zoo, the aquarium, even camping. It’s another tradition from their home they hold onto.
Fridays are traditionally a day of community in Islam, Abu alroos explained. In Gaza, the kids’ father would be off work, and the family would go to prayer, followed by grocery shopping at the supermarket and dinner as a family. Often, her husband would buy small gifts for their kids as rewards for good behavior.
“One time, I wasn’t good, and he didn’t buy me anything,” Baraa recounted through the interpreter.
When Baraa woke up in the hospital in Gaza, Abu alroos said, he asked for his father, suggesting they ride their bikes together as they often did. He became suspicious as they dodged his questions, and the family soon after told Baraa about what had happened: Baraa’s father and grandmother had been killed in the bombing.
“I don’t have one single picture of my kids with their dad,” Abu alroos said. “Even cellphones — everything was decimated. The only place he exists is in my memory.”
After the bombing, Baraa had been rushed to the hospital and initially identified as having died because he was unconscious, Abu alroos recalled. Afterward, Baraa was transferred to another hospital close to the Egyptian border that could provide him with more comprehensive treatment.
The family was permitted to enter Egypt at the end of April, where Abu alroos’ two other children are now living. From there, they waited until they got approval to come to the U.S.
After not being able to attend school for most of last year due to the ongoing war, Baraa and his sister were able to start at the same Islamic school that the Musleh children attend. They hope it will bring Baraa and Elaf a sense of normalcy, a routine in an unfamiliar place. Baraa says that he wants to be an architect when he gets older — to rebuild Gaza, he said.
Meanwhile, the family must balance Baraa’s schooling with the time he will spend at Shriners Hospital for an upcoming surgery and physical therapy appointments for months afterward.
HEAL Palestine is working to bring more children from Gaza to the U.S. for treatment, said a spokesperson for the organization. But it has been difficult in recent months to evacuate people from Gaza after closure of the Rafah Crossing restricted Gazans’ ability to flee to their geographic neighbor, Egypt, the spokesperson said.
The organization has staff in Gaza, the West Bank, Egypt and the U.S., and it works with U.S.-based families like the Muslehs to house and care for families arriving in the U.S. for medical treatment.
“They think that the world — and they did — failed them, but they think that no one even thinks about them,” said the spokesperson for the founder, Steve Sosebee. “So once they are here in the U.S. and they see all the welcoming from the U.S. people, they change their mind that, yes, we are still wanted. We still have a chance.”
Another child from Gaza — Khalil Abu Shaban, 13 — arrived in Chicago on Aug. 7 and is staying with Sirage al-Tarifi and his wife, family friends of the Muslehs. The family spent time with Baraa and saw what the Muslehs were doing, and when they got the call that another child needed a place to stay in Chicago, they volunteered.
“We felt like God sent them to us,” al-Tarifi said. “Anything we could do to help out — people who lost everything they have overnight. We should feel blessed the way everything over here is nice and peaceful, and try to help others, make it better for them. “
The night Abu Shaban arrived, the two families gathered to share a meal, just as the Musleh family had when they first welcomed Baraa and his family. They also brought along Leyan Albaz, 14, the first child to come to Chicago for treatment in Gaza during the war. She has since started walking again with the help of prosthetics. And the cycle of unfamiliarity, adjustment and healing began over again, for a new family this time.
“It was my turn to comfort the lady that came,” Abu alroos said. “She had the same fears. I told her not to worry — she’s in good hands.”
Originally Published: