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. (more…)