Recently, Ellen from the Portland, Oregon NMV chapter headed east to visit her hometown of Portland, Maine.  While there, she met up with Portland, Maine organizers, Doug Rogers and Susi Eggenberger, who took Ellen to meet little Nora and her father, Afef!

During the visit, Ellen gave Nora and Afef each an “Ask Me About Mustafa” t-shirt from their chapter.  The Portland, Oregon group is waiting for 6-year-old Mustafa Abed, who lost his leg and a large part of his hip to a US air strike in November of 2004, and created these shirts to spread awareness about Mustafa’s plight.

Nora, who needs plastic surgery on her skull, was more than happy to wear Mustafa’s shirt and show her support for another young victim of the invasion of her country.

Thank you so much to both Portlands for your support, creativity, and compassion for our friends, the civilians of Iraq! (more…)

Hi Everyone!

We just wanted to write and catch you up on the “happenings” of Noora and Afef over the past few weeks since we last wrote.

First and foremost on the medical side, after seeing Dr. John Atwood (the plastic surgeon involved in the project), the decision has been made to go forward with a tissue expansion procedure, which involves implanting 1-2 balloons under healthy portions of Noora’s scalp. Weekly (for approximately 6 weeks), Dr. Atwood will be injecting saline into the balloon, stretching and creating enough new skin (with hair follicles) to be able to use it for grafting over her new prosthetic skull.

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Rusul had her surgery today; her foot was amputated.  She wasn’t scared though; she’s just anxious to walk and go to school again!

Post-surgery, she just had to share her experience with her buddy Nora!  (after demanding french fries and LOTS of ketchup for her post-surgery meal!)

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.

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I talked with Nora and Rusul on the phone today! Cole called and put them on the line. Nora said, “Hello, Ann,” and then began rattling off in Arabic. I don’t know what she said, but she sounded happy! Rusul said, “Hello, Ann! I MISS YOU, ANN!” In caps because Rusul’s voice literally sang through the phone – it hit my heart because it sounded so much like her big sister, Salee’s. I couldn’t help feeling a sadness and longing for Salee hearing Rusul’s voice. But there was definitely no sadness on Rusul’s part. Her voice shone with the pure joy and exuberance that is also her sister’s. If you’ve met Salee, you’ll know what I mean.

My conversations with the girls were, of course, quite short, because we’d both exhausted our command of each other’s language (I have literally none of theirs) within seconds. But, those brief seconds were long enough to make me even more anxious to meet these precious little ones who’ve been so damaged by what’s happened to their country.

I spoke with Abu Ali, Rusul’s father, and Afif, Nora’s father, briefly too. Of course, I know Abu Ali well from his time here with Salee. He was his usual exuberant self, saying, “I love you, my Sister. And, I miss EVERYONE there!” Afif sounded kind and courteous, a quiet man searching for the right words in English to express himself. He said that he looked forward to meeting me and that he’d see me soon.

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Rusul, left, and Nora, already having become great friends, play the universal ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors’

Nora, Rusul and their fathers arrived at the No More Victims apartment in Amman, Jordan the first week in June and began their journey through the visa process.  NMV Founder Cole Miller, joined them on June 18th and reports that the girls are beautiful, sweet, and full of laughs and giggles!

Nora will be heading to Portland, Maine, where she’ll receive care for a bullet wound to her head (see “Nora” page for more information), inflicted when US forces fired upon the car she was riding in with her family.

Rusul will come to Greenville, South Carolina, where she will receive treatment at Shriners Hospital in Greenville.  Rusul’s leg was badly damaged in a US air strike in November, 2006, which took both of her sister Salee’s legs.  Salee received double prostheses at Shriners Hospital last year.  Please see “Rusul” and “Salee”’s pages for more information on the sisters.

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