The name “Zahra” is Arabic and it’s translation a "blooming flower."
What a wonderful way to remember a young girl who is making national headlines not for her beautiful name, but for her brief and painful life as authorities in North Carolina work to locate her remains.
Zahra Clare Baker was diagnosed with bone cancer five years ago. Doctors in Australia amputated her leg and, according to reports from her birthplace, she adjusted well to the treatments and her new prosthetic leg. The chemo also caused Zahra to lose her hearing, and in a photo on the Internet we see this bright flower during a fitting for hearing aids. In 2007, her father took his daughter away from excellent medical care, family and friends in Australia to the United States, only to marry a violent dangerous older woman that makes Cinderella‘s step mother look like a saint.
I question those in the community who are now coming forward and making statements on how they witnessed psycho step-parent beat Zahra? Or talk about the bruises to her face, neck and body? At ten years of age Zahra was battling cancer and neighbors stood by and watched, time and time again, this child being beaten. Neighbors could often hear Zahra screaming from inside the home.
Now, these same folks are applying lipstick or taking the time to grab a clean shirt for the camera crews covering this senseless tragedy. My response is W.T.F.!
I suggest those now coming forward about witnessing Zahra being hurt-if they have children of their own, DSS should remove those kids from the home until it can be determined that their environment is safe. I question the sanity of those who stood by in silence now talking up a storm and pointing fingers after the fact.
We cannot bring Zahra Claire Baker back. But we can be accountable to the children in this county, the thousands of other precious and blooming flowers who have a right to live their lives without being tortured and terrorized into deadly silence.
