Facing the Future Hannan Shihab Was Hideously Burned During the Bombing of Baghdad. Two Years On, As Her Features Are Carefully and Lovingly Rebuilt, She Is Finding New Confidence with the Help of a Scottish Single Mother

Summary

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Hannan Shihab plonks herself down on the couch before pulling back her long, dark hair to show me her new ear - an interesting introduction to say the least. The ear was reconstructed from one of her ribs earlier this year.

Then she shows me the ripple of knobbly burns scars down her left arm, but shies away from showing her left hand which lost its pinky finger. It's the only part of her body that, really, Hannan is self- conscious about.

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Facing the Future Hannan Shihab Was Hideously Burned During the Bombing of Baghdad. Two Years On, As Her Features Are Carefully and Lovingly Rebuilt, She Is Finding New Confidence with the Help of a Scottish Single Mother

"I used to be left-handed, " she says, "but now I have to use my right." She grins. Her once clear and unlined face has been erased - in its place a swathe of creamy, melted skin that looks as pliable and malleable as wet clay.

When you look at it, and you do look at it, it seems otherworldly and surreal. A closer inspection and there is also something curiously beautiful in its fragility.

Like any girl her age - she is 17 - she has a carefully constructed patina of blue eyeshadow around the lids of her deep brown eyes. Delicate, quizzical and feminine. "Cool, " she laughs. Some of the leftover rib cartilage was used to create a septum for her nose. She rubs it. Skin from her arms and legs has been grafted onto her face. Nothing was wasted.

There are deeper burns, like bubbling marshmallows, across her chest and legs. Yet she is defiantly upbeat about her body. "I look good, " she says, smacking her lips. "You think so?"

It was April 2003 and only a few days into th...

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