While playing on the patio of their house in Baghdad, 10-year-old Summer and her younger brother Samer fled in the direction of the front-yard fence as soon as they heard the thundering sounds of airplanes flying across the sky. They crouched down to the floor, put their heads between their legs and started crying as they heard the sounds of planes bombarding nearby villages.

“We were so scared,” Summer recalled.

It was the last day of the Gulf War, and this was something that Summer and Samer were accustomed to.

Only 40 days earlier, Summer heard her classmates gossiping, “We’re going to get bombed, we’re going to get bombed,” throughout her Baghdad Dijla elementary school.

When Summer heard the rumor in her fourth-grade class that her country was at war, she hurried home to tell her parents.

Summer’s parents didn’t let Summer and her younger brother attend school the next day. On the morning of Jan. 16, 1991, Summer and Samer played on the flat rooftop of their three-story house, celebrating Samer’s birthday and their day off from school.

“Yeah, no school, no school,” Summer and Samer yelled, not yet grasping the fact that Iraq was at war with the United States.

That night, the whole family, including their 1-and-a-half-year-old brother Salam, slept in the room Summer’s parents made into a shelter.

It was the room with the least number of windows. The family covered the windows in the room with plastic and blankets and moved a dresser for protection from any blasts that might have shattered the windows. Summer’s dad made carbon masks in case of biological warfare and stored food in the room.

“We’re like ‘why?'” Summer recalled. “Why do we have to sleep here?”

The parents assured their children they just wanted to try it out for a night, just in case something happened.

“That night I remembered sleeping and I woke up to bombing,” Summer said.

The family woke up to a pitch-black room.

It is now 12 years later. Summer survived the Gulf War. In 1994, her family fled the repercussions of the economic sanctions on Iraq and went to Jordan and then to the United States where they have made a life for themselves in Buffalo Grove, Ill. Summer, who is now a senior bio-chemistry major at NIU, has adapted to her new home in the United States, but her mind is not far from her war-torn past. She is reminded of Iraq and war every time she picks up a copy of the Chicago Tribune to read the latest updates on the current war.

“After living through a war, you wish no one will see it,” Summer said. “So many people are pro-war in general against Iraq right now. It’s really sad to say there are people who want the Iraqis dead. They say it’s to take Saddam out of power; but at the same time, you’re not really hitting Saddam. He’s hiding, and every time he goes from one place to another, the place that gets bombed are civilians.”

Despite the pro-war sentiments, Summer said she is moved by the several anti-war protests throughout the world.

The Gulf War has left some long-lasting imprints on her life. Upon hearing police sirens for the first time in the United States, Summer said, “We’d start freaking out.”

The fear still creeps back up, and Summer becomes tense whenever she hears airplanes flying low, or the sound of strong thunder during storms.

“For me, it starts opening up my eyes, and I start looking around if not consciously, unconsciously,” she said.

During the Gulf War, the family lost all forms of communication when phone lines were destroyed.

“Our family in the U.S. didn’t know what our status was,” she said.

Water became scarce as pipelines and sewers were destroyed as well.

“We lost water two, three days into the war,” Summer said. “Our faucets were always on waiting for water. When the water did come, it was so dirty.” Her parents boiled the water and used purifying drugs to make it more drinkable.

Summer’s family spent three years in Iraq under economic sanctions.

“I remember my parents going to buy bread,” Summer said. They would stand in bread lines from five to sometimes six or seven in the morning. “When you go there to get bread, people are fighting to get food, fighting to be first in line, even for a doctor or a pharmacist.”

As Summer reflected, she paused and put her head down.

“That’s not a life,” she said as she shook her head. “Man, I had to grow up so much. So many kids, especially right now, they’re dealing with a whole lot. A hundred times worse than what I dealt with, but for a fourth grader that’s not a life. I lost a lot of my childhood because of what happened.”

Summer has no immediate family left in Baghdad, but some of the relatives left in Iraq are trying to leave while others are staying.

“They really don’t want war,” she said. “They lived in sanctions now for almost 12 years. We’ve been praying for them hoping no harm will be done to them or any other person.”

Summer’s parents made due during the sanctions while they were in Iraq.

“My parents didn’t let me and my brother feel much, but they were going through hard times. They had to work extra hours,” Summer said. “They purchased everything for us that we needed.”

Summer has made an effort to educate people on the repercussions of the economic sanctions by writing informative papers or essays anytime she gets the opportunity.

Not only does Summer speak out on the sanctions, but Samer, who is now a sophomore at the University of Illinois, and their cousin, Luai Hodi, a junior at NIU, do as well.

Hodi, unlike Summer, was born in the Unites States. Hodi said he was happy to see such a widespread protest of all colors and creeds concerned for Iraqi civilians.

“I’m proud of the American people,” he said.

A few months ago, Hodi said he was indifferent to the United States going into Iraq because he didn’t see any other solution.

“I hate Saddam just as much as any other American because of the things he’s done to the Iraqi people,” he said.

After doing some research about the Gulf War, Hodi said he is now against this war. He was shocked to find out some things while doing some research.

“When they bombed Iraq, they made sure they weren’t going to rebuild,” he said. Iraq’s infrastructure was built around the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. He said the bombing of about 163 bridges during the Gulf War had severe repercussions due to that fact.

Hodi remembered one story he came across while reading the “Challenge to Genocide, Let Iraq Live,” by former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark.

About 40 mothers were sitting in a hospital with their premature babies whom were on incubators. When the electricity went out after bombings, two or three of the mothers actually went insane.

The Gulf War left Iraq with no chances of pulling itself out of the dirt. On top of sanctions, Iraq was forced to give money to Kuwait and other countries for war reparations, Hodi said.

Through Hodi’s research, he also said he found a good percentage of civilians died because some bombings were off target.

“I’m praying because I’m worried for them [civilians] now, there’s nothing they can do now,” he said. “The Iraqi people need to be saved now.” As for the rebuilding, Hodi thinks it should be a global effort that the United States should spearhead.

Summer also will remain firm in her stance against the war with Iraq.

“It’s not going to solve anything,” she said. “It’s only going to kill more innocent people.”

Even though it is the U.S. government going to war with Iraq, Summer has absolutely no hatred toward Americans.

“I know the Iraqis aren’t going to be the only ones going to be harmed,” she said. “I pray for any families who have relatives in the Army for their safe return home.”

Summer plans on returning to Iraq for an occasional visit when the country becomes stable.

“If the Gulf War didn’t happen, I’d still be there for sure,” she said.