By Vicky Zhao
10th grade | Old Scona Academic | Edmonton, Canada
Finalist in the K–11 contest, Peace and Conflict category
With lines from “A Mother and Baby From Gaza Are Reunited 11 Months After Being Separated at Birth” by Elissa Nadworny, Fatima Al-Kassab, and Claire Harbage, a Pulitzer Center-supported story
They called it a safe zone, the way people call a grave peaceful after
the body is already trapped and mangled inside. At 3 a.m. the i was born glowing blue under
ceiling unstitched itself, concrete entering my mouth. phone-light. everyone says miracle as
Beneath the rubble, my son became silent. Leave me if it’s my first name. they called me Ma-
to die. My son is dead, I told them. But grief was riam, after someone dear to them passed. i
stubborn. It dragged me breathing through think that means i was supposed to live. grand-
Khan Younis, corridors swollen with bodies. ma says i smiled early. i learned teeth. i learned
No water. No antibiotics. Only blood laugh. i learned how to wave at a woman trapped
streaming in the dark. Then your first inside a screen. she was my mama, i was told. she
breath found me like resurrection. I bought me a toy so i would look at her longer. some-
came back to life. But survival is a times the phone froze before she finished smiling. every-
country that keeps deporting me, far body held me, everywhere became arms. “She’s the fruit
away from you. Doha stitched metal of this house.” i do not know what Gaza is but people cry
into my legs, strapped braces into my when they say it. today my grandma carries me into a
bones. Counted surgeries in double digits room with a woman. the woman from the screen.
while I counted your teeth through static her shoulder ends too early. she whispers my
and phones. Every night the airstrike returned name. “It’s me, your mom.” i do not know
for me until the memory became another amputated that word yet, but her voice keeps
limb. 300 days later, wheelchair-bound and legs full of reaching for me. hoping i will stay.
pins, you arrive. I kiss your beautiful face. “It’s me, your mom.”
Vicky Zhao, a 10th-grader at Old Scona Academic in Canada, is passionate about languages and communication. She enjoys French, writing, and public speaking. Vicky also loves to dance, whether it be traditional Chinese dancing or hip hop trends found on Instagram. She's deeply engaged in all sorts of volunteering, from teaching English to children across the globe to reading French books to kids at her local library. Life hasn't been easy to figure out, she said, but one thing's for sure, she will keep writing.
Read more winning entries from the 2026 Fighting Words Poetry Contest.