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Honors and Advances
Baghdad to Boston and Back
Baghdad to Boston and Back
An Iraqi scholar who visited the Longwood Medical Area this fall gave her views on training and practice in the two countries. At her request, Focus has omitted names and identifying details.
As a young medical professional, she could never have imagined that striking up a conversation with a Harvard student would open up her world. The two met in Baghdad, her hometown, while working for the U.S. ambassador. They were of similar age and educational background and were curious about each other’s experiences.
“I wondered, what’s the view of Americans to Iraqis? What are their expectations? Do they see me as a human?” she asked. Casual conversation turned into a friendship, and after muddling through much red tape, the Harvard student arranged for her to come to Boston as a visiting scholar this past September.
“I never traveled outside my country. I want to know what is the life like out there. I never expected I was going to be here one day. It was a dream or a miracle,” she said. “It was a dream for me to travel outside my country, in any country, and here I am.”
During her stay, she observed physicians at work in the lab and with patients. She sat in on lectures and made friends with students. The biggest surprise, professionally, was the omnipresent technology. Unlike in Iraq, computers are involved in every aspect of science and health care.
“Basic science is the same, but what’s different here is the technology available in the hospital and the school. The machines simplify the work of all the procedures,” she said.
She called her time here “the experience of [her] life,” but she had to adjust to her newfound independence. “I spent all my life in my country with my family, never traveling alone, never sleeping alone, or staying alone. Now I have to take care of myself, by myself. All these things that I didn’t used to do, I’m doing them in a country completely different in all criteria of life: language, customs, beliefs, laws. It’s a big jump from my country to a country that is number one in the world in all fields. I’m learning from people, learning from life and how it’s run here.”
The visiting scholar found it easier to connect with her family in Baghdad via e-mail because the city’s phone lines are unreliable. “My family is so excited for me. It’s a big change in my life and a big transformation in my mind, in my thinking. They are proud of me getting all these experiences in life at this early age.”
In Boston, she found the people she met to be well-educated, open-minded, and liberal, and she described the city as exciting and beautiful, but also as crowded and cold. In her short time here, she even realized that it is much too difficult to park a car in Boston. Yet she enjoyed having the freedom to do things she would not have been able to do in Iraq, such as going to the movies and playing basketball with friends.
She returned to Baghdad earlier this month with some trepidation. “I am honored to be here, but when I go back home, I cannot tell any of my experiences here because I will be attacked or killed because of the insurgents and terrorists. When I go back, I hope that the situation is more stable and safe so people like me can build their own profession,” she said. “I wish that it will be safe for me to express my feelings. From Harvard, I now have many plans and many ideas.”
—Leah Gourley