"This box is from Baghdad. It came to me as things were brewing up for war in Iraq a second time round, and it came to me from a relative who'd been to visit her relatives in Iraq, and she'd brought this box back from my aunt and my cousins.
And I remember receiving it and I remember feeling happy but also sad that they were there and the situation was getting worse. And I remember opening the box and seeing inside it a note from them, and it just said, Dear Sister Selma, with love Selma. That was my Aunt Selma, and Benzene, and I remember calling them up to thank them, and that was the last conversation I had with him.
The war then happened and the lines went down and I wasn't able to talk to them. And since then I've felt guilty, I feel unable to call them because I feel I wouldn't know what to say to them. I feel guilty they're there and I'm here, and the more time goes on, the more I find it hard to call them up. So the box is both happiness and sadness."
