At the clinic gate, a 7-year-old collapsed, crying, “Mommy has been sleeping for three days, please save them.” The doctor rushed to help the newborn twins, but as he lifted them, his hands shook. Underneath the babies was a handwritten note from the mother that made the doctor freeze in terror…

old now, taller, my hair pulled back neatly, my feet clad in clean, sturdy sneakers. I sat across from a journalist with a digital recorder. She was compiling a regional piece on defining moments of courage.

“Alina,” the journalist asked, her pen hovering over her notepad. “When you look back at that day, pushing that cart for all those miles… what continue reading …