Zubaida was in the ninth year of her life. She was one of eight children and two parents that made up her nomadic family. Together, they traveled from place to place. She and the rest of her family are originally from the region of Farah in Afghanistan. During the month of August in 2001, Zubaida was heating up an inside home cooking burner with kerosene as she poured it in. The gasoline caught fire, and she quickly caught on fire as a result. Her face, neck, chest, and arms were all badly burned in the incident. Her father transported her to a neighboring medical provider as soon as the blaze was put out, and there, she was treated with several ointments. As the severity of her health continued to increase, her father made the decision to take her to Iran for medical care. She was hospitalized to a hospital in Iran for a period of twenty days, after which she was released from the facility. The physicians there advised her father to bring her back home so that she might pass away there. Although Zubaida did not pass away as a consequence of her injuries, she was left with a horrific deformity, major functional disability, and a severely damaged sense of self-esteem.

Muhammad, Zubaida’s father, reached out to the United States government in February 2002 for assistance for his daughter, who had suffered serious burns. This was on the advice of local merchants. She was transported to the military installation of the United States Army in Kabul. There, Zubaida met with American military physicians, and after discussing the situation, they decided to get in touch with the United States State Department to find out what options they had.

Dr. Peter Grossman, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon at The Grossman Burn Center in Sherman Oaks, California, was approached by the State Department. Zubaida was sent to the United States in order to get treatment at The Grossman Burn Center. This was made possible thanks to the Children’s Burn Foundation, a humanitarian organization headquartered in Southern California that provides financial and social support to burn-injured children who do not have any other method of obtaining assistance.