Zmira Nino Azariah

The family immigrated in fifty-one and settled in Rehovot transit camp. It included my mother and five children: Samira was the youngest. My mother was alone, father died in Iraq. Samira was the little apple of our eye and brought light and joy to the house. Meanwhile, my brothers and I were sent to boarding schools and various institutions. I was less than six years old and my brother Ezra was eight. We were sent to Hafetz Haim. My big brother Joseph (ten) was sent to Blumenthal. Mother was left in the transit camp with Samira and Pini and Pinchas, the youngest two children. One day my mother was told that my young sister needs to be tested in the clinic (a hut among the tents), since a child put a stick in her ear. Later, my mother was told that the child had to stay the night. Mother was alone with two children and could not do anything. When she came back the next day, she was told the girl was transferred to Beilinson Hospital. This hospital was very far from the transit camp. Why was she taken to a hospital so far away? My mother sent my grandmother there and when she got there, she was told that the child had died. Mother cried for her for the rest of her life. She held her little shoes and cried until she passed away.