Thanks to all who came to last Sunday’s potluck at Laurelhurst Park — it was a great gathering!

Good news! Mustafa and his father have their visa appointment set for July 29th at the US Embassy in Amman, Jordan. Within about three weeks of that appointment (That’s mid to late August!), Mustafa should be in Portland. We have contacted Shriner’s Hospital and asked them to re-schedule Mustafa’s first evaluation appointment for the 3rd week in August. There are unpredictable things in the visa process, so we have to all be patient with any delays. We will definitely keep the updates coming as we know of more details.

We are so excited to meet Mustafa and his father and to shower them with a warm and loving Portland welcome.

To begin getting us ready, Geri and David told their 3rd, 4th and 5th graders about Mustafa and the students decorated beautiful posters that they will bring to the Portland airport to welcome Mustafa. The students also created great colorful pictures for Mustafa to hang in his room and an alphabet book with terrific pictures representing the letters of the alphabet. Channel 8 had a photographer at Geri and David’s classes getting footage of the students drawing this amazing art — footage they intend to incorporate into their coverage of Mustafa.

And the Unitarian Church inspires us with their strong and generous support of this project. Half of all the collections the Church took in throughout the month of May have been donated to No More Victims. But that’s not all. An anonymous donor who is a member of the Church matched that entire donation! Thanks for all donations–from churches and individuals. As you recall the money goes to pay for Mustafa’s and his father’s travel expenses. No More Victims also helps to support the family members who are in Iraq–during the time that Mustafa and his father are here.

As you know, Shriners’ will do whatever they can to provide Mustafa with a prosthetic leg. But we received disappointing news from Doernbecher Childrens’ Hospital. They said that due to sever budget constraints and their focus on providing care to those in need locally, they would not be able to provide care for Mustafa’s abdominal injuries. Our No More Victims medical team will pursue Legacy Emanuel Hospital to see if the assessment and surgery for the abdominal injuries can be cared for there. If anyone has other leads, let us know!

Ellen is facilitating a writing group — people who want to write about our experiences with Mustafa–a person journal, possibly writing for a “community book” that chronicles this project, whatever… Whether you see yourself as a writer or not, if you’d like to document any part of this experience, there is opportunity and support to do so. Let us know of your interest and you’re in! Watch for an email with the time/details for a gathering of all who are interested in writing. To contact Ellen about the writing project: ehart@UCSC.edu

If anyone would be interested in helping to organize an event that could be both a community gathering and a fundraising event (?music/art??), please let us know. It would be great to take advantage of this nice weather and have some sort of concert or something…

Peace to everyone, and enjoy — thoroughly — the summer!

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