We met Cole last December when he came to our mosque to talk about No More Victims. Our newly-formed youth group, eager to start a project, approached him after his presentation, and we asked what we could do. He told us about Shaymaa and asked us to help her out.

Shaymaa is a four-year-old girl who lives with her grandfather in the city of Fallujah in Iraq. On April 6, 2004, a terrible attack during the first siege of Fallujah killed Shaymaa’s father, severely injured her mother, and left her paralyzed – she was only three months old at the time. She and her grandfather, two of the only survivors of the attack that killed 31 people – 17 of them children – struggled to get by. Finding adequate medical care for Shaymaa’s injuries was next to impossible in Fallujah.

Our youth group set straight to work. We sent Shaymaa letters and drawings telling her and her grandfather that we were deeply sorry for the war, and that we would like to help them in every possible way. We asked them about problems they had encountered in finding rehabilitative treatment. Then, we set out to accomplish our next task: fundraising for Shaymaa’s treatment.

Flyers and posters detailing Shaymaa’s plight were distributed throughout the mosque and throughout all of our high schools. Everyone who heard about Shaymaa was deeply concerned for her, and they helped our youth group out in any way they could. With these generous donations from everyone, and after repeated bake sales at our mosque, we raised a decent sum of money in a relatively short amount of time.

Immediately, some of the money was used to purchase Shaymaa a wheelchair (I can’t imagine how difficult it must have been for Shaymaa to get around without a wheelchair all this time). Since February, Cole has been delivering $85 each month from our funds to help Shaymaa receive rehabilitative treatment, and also to help her family meet their immediate needs.

Some of our money also went towards helping Omar, another severely injured child. In January, Omar and his father arrived in Boston – Omar was about to undergo a series of treatments at the Boston Children’s Hospital. Our youth group came to greet him at Logan airport and at his welcoming party, which was held at a nearby mosque.

In due course, our group received Shaymaa’s long-awaited responses to the letters we had sent her. We were ecstatic! There was a picture of her in her new wheelchair, smiling brightly and holding up a paper saying “Thank You!”

That “thank you” meant so much to us. We realized that with a little effort, it’s possible to provide meaningful help to a war-injured Iraqi child. Instead of criticizing the war, or blaming people, or complaining about things that were out of our control, we decided we were going to do something. And even if our actions were small, they did make someone feel happy – and that’s what really matters. We helped create a model that we hope will be used by other students all over the country.

Now, in late November, Shaymaa’s funds have been exhausted. But we have a plan. We’re arranging a large, for-the-entire-community fundraising dinner for Shaymaa, and we’re aiming for a date sometime in January. If all goes according to plan, we’ll raise enough money we need to get Shaymaa adequate medical care. Wish us luck!