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.
Overthrown, The Palestinian dish, which means “upside down,” is made with rice, potatoes and vegetables and is served upside down, hence its name. And there is more to preparing it than just cooking the food, Haneen Abu alroos told the Tribune through an interpreter.
“The whole process of preparing it is a labor of love,” Abu alroos said. “It’s a difficult dish to prepare and difficult to perfect. You can turn it around and it might just fail.”
The Musleh family of Palos Park had planned their trip for a special occasion: to welcome Haneen Abu alroos, 36, her children, Baraa, 7, and her younger sister, Elaf, 3, to Chicago. The family arrived in July from Egypt, where they had fled Gaza amid the war between Israel and Hamas.
Today, nearly two months after their arrival, the Abu alroos family has settled into their new life. The Musleh family is hosting them while Baraa undergoes months of medical treatment and physiotherapy for a broken arm and amputated leg, injuries he sustained after their home in Rafah was bombed in March.
Families cook and eat together and accompany Baraa and Elaf to doctor appointments.
Nida Musleh, who is hosting the family with her husband and children, said they have spent the past few weeks reassuring them and helping them adjust.
“The first day they came, it was raining very hard and there were thunderstorms,” Musleh recalls. “The little girl hears the thunder and says, ‘Oh, bombing?’ Every time a plane goes by, she wonders, ‘Are they going to bomb here?’ They relate everything to what’s happening over there.”
But she said time has helped.
“It’s better (now),” Musleh said. “When they hear thunder, they know it’s thunder.”
Israel launched its bombardment of Gaza after Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which 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 disaster.
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Haneen Abu alroos said the family managed to survive during the first months of the war by living on canned food. She explained that she tried to distract her children from the noise of the bombs, but in March, the Abu alroos family’s home was bombed, as were those of several of their neighbors.
The family is now in Chicago thanks to HEAL Palestine, an Ohio-based organization that helps injured children from Gaza and their families evacuate and receive free medical care, coordinating their visa applications and travel to the United States. Since March, the nonprofit has brought three Palestinian children and their families to Chicago to recover from injuries they suffered in Gaza.
The Abu Alroos family was the second to come to Chicago for treatment, a journey they had feared making, they said. But when they arrived July 7 at O’Hare International Airport, dozens of community members greeted them.
“Everyone is shouting Baraa’s name and everyone is cheering for him, he is a hero, you have to stand firm and be strong,” said Haneen Abu alroos. “They started saying, ‘You are like our family, you are like our family.’”
Over the summer, Musleh’s younger children entertained Baraa and Elaf. Baraa took a special liking to Ameen, 17, who lets him accompany her when he spends time with his friends. And Elaf has 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 household tradition they hold dear.
Friday is traditionally a day of community in Islam, Abu alroos explains. In Gaza, the children’s father is off work and the family goes to prayer, then shops at the supermarket and has dinner together. Often, her husband buys small gifts for their children as a reward for good behavior.
“One time I was naughty and he didn’t buy me anything,” Baraa said through the interpreter.
When Baraa woke up in the Gaza hospital, Abu alroos says, he asked to see his father, suggesting they ride bikes together, as they often did. He grew suspicious as they dodged his questions, and the family quickly told Baraa what had happened: Baraa’s father and grandmother had been killed in the bombing.
“I don’t have a single photo of my children with their father,” Abu alroos said. “Even mobile phones – everything has been destroyed. The only place it exists is in my memory.”
After the attack, Baraa was rushed to hospital and was initially diagnosed as dead because he was unconscious, Abu alroos said. Baraa was later transferred to another hospital near the Egyptian border that could provide more comprehensive care.
The family was allowed to enter Egypt in late April, where Abu Alroos’s two other children now live. From there, they waited to be approved to come to the United States.
After being out of school for most of the last year because of the war, Baraa and his sister have returned to school at the same Islamic school as the Musleh children. They hope it will give Baraa and Elaf a sense of normalcy, a routine in an unfamiliar place. Baraa says he wants to be an architect when he grows up – to rebuild Gaza, he says.
Meanwhile, the family must balance Baraa’s schooling with the time he will spend at Shriners Hospital for an upcoming surgery and months of physical therapy appointments.
HEAL Palestine is working to bring more children from Gaza to the United States for treatment, a spokesman for the organization said. But it has been difficult in recent months to evacuate Gazans after the closure of the Rafah crossing, which limited Gazans’ ability to flee to their geographic neighbor, Egypt, the spokesman said.
The organization has staff in Gaza, the West Bank, Egypt and the United States, and works with U.S.-based families, like the Muslehs, to house and care for families arriving in the United States for medical treatment.
“They think the world has let them down – and it has – but they think no one is thinking about them,” said founder spokesman Steve Sosebee. “Once they are here in the United States and they see the warm welcome from the American people, they change their minds and say to themselves that we are still welcome. We still have a chance.”
Another child from Gaza — Khalil Abu Shaban, 13 — arrived Baraa arrived in Chicago on August 7 and is staying with Sirage al-Tarifi and his wife, friends of the Musleh family. The family spent time with Baraa and saw what the Muslehs were doing, and when they got a call that another child needed a place to stay in Chicago, they volunteered.
“We felt like God sent them to us,” al-Tarifi said. “We did everything we could to help people who lost everything overnight. We should feel blessed to see that everything is beautiful and peaceful here, and try to help others, to make their lives better.”
The night Abu Shaban arrived, the two families gathered for a meal, just as the Musleh family had done when they welcomed Baraa and his family. They also brought with them 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 the unknown, adaptation and healing began again, this time for a new family.
“It was my turn to comfort the lady who came,” Abu alroos said. “She had the same fears. I told her not to worry, she was in good hands.”
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