Tears in Iraq

About the Book

Anabelle Valencia's Tears in Iraq is a psychological narrative from her very soul. What is interesting about Anabelle's story is the transparent, yet profound simplicity with which she relates her odyssey to a country savagely punished by Western cruelty.

Tears in Iraq is a book born of a mother's heart: the heart of the first Hispanic woman to travel to the front. It is dedicated especially to those women who, as mothers, may have felt at one time or another what the author herself felt when she had the opportunity to go and see firsthand what is happening in a country occupied by the U.S. military.

Tears in Iraq chronicles a mother's heartfelt feelings: the feelings of a mother who went through hell to find her two children and saw close up the horrors of war and its terrible consequences.

About the Author

The youngest of eight children, Anabelle Salcido de Valencia was born in Los Angeles and grew up in Caborca, Mexico in the state of Sonora. Her family's roots there go back more than 100 years. She graduated from high school in Caborca and considers herself a Sonoran first and then a Mexican.

Still a young woman, Anabelle returned to the United States to further her education. Within three years she achieved that goal and started working.

She returned to Caborca where she met her future husband. A loving family for 30 years, Anabelle and her husband have three children and two grandchildren.

Since the beginning of 1993 Anabelle has worked as a multicultural bilingual assistant teacher in Tucson, Arizona. She is currently enrolled at Pima Community College and is a certified substitute teacher for all grade levels.

At the end of 2000 Anabelle met Rolande Baker, a high school Social Studies teacher in the Sunnyside Unified School District in Tucson. Rolande is the one who encouraged Anabelle to make the trip in search of her children stationed in Iraq during the U.S. military occupation.

If you would like to know more or to contact the author, you can e-mail her at anabelle1227@yahoo.com. To view photographs and video footage, visit her website, www.anabellevalencia.com.