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 (mid to late August!), Mustafa should be in Portland. Mustafa’s first evaluation appointment at Shriner’s is set for August 27th. He and his father will be staying at the Ronald McDonald House at OHSU. We are still working out arrangements for evaluation and treatment of Mustafa’s abdominal injuries.

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.

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Mustafa is a five-year old Iraqi boy. Three years ago, in November 2004, during the U.S. assault on Fallujah, a U.S. missile landed near him as his mother carried him to escape the bombing, cutting off his left leg and causing severe abdominal injuries and a colostomy. He was about 2 years old at the time. His mother was slightly wounded. Our goal is to provide him with medical treatment that is donated by physicians and hospitals here in Portland, and to tell his story so that we can all better understand the human cost of war. Mustafa will live in our community with his father until his treatment is completed. They will then return to Iraq.

Shriners Hospital here in Portland has agreed to treat Mustafa’s orthopedic injuries free of charge. We are still working to arrange care for his abdominal wounds. Mustafa and his father will be arriving in July. Although we don’t know the exact travel date, his first appointment at Shriner’s is on July 24.

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As the weather turned from damp to sun to pouring rain and hail — over and over throughout the day, Portlanders marched by the thousands to demand an end to this horrible war. We all remarked to one another how we couldn’t believe that we are still having to do this — 5 years later. There is such a feeling of sadness and grief for Iraq and the Iraqi people whose lives are being destroyed.

About 20 of us from our No More Victims project marched under our wonderful new banner, made by Bonnie. The image of children’s clothes made very vivid the tragic impact this and all war has on children. The back of the large banner says “No More Victims of this Tragic War”. All around the banner we walked carrying NoMoreVictims.org “signs” — printed on children’s clothing. It was a powerful image — many asked us about the project.

This evening we met and discussed our hopes that Mustafa and his father will soon be here to be healed. We feel that being part of his care is very healing for us, as well, and one more way to say, “Not in Our Name”.

Hoping for peace from Portland,
Maxine

Be sure to mark your calendars and save the date for:
FIRST PORTLAND, OREGON COMMUNITY NO MORE VICTIMS PLANNING MEETING

(Organize to welcome an injured Iraqi child to Portland for treatment
& powerfully tell their story!)

THURSDAY, JANUARY 3, 2008
7 PM
FIRST UNITARIAN CHURCH
1101 SW 12TH AVE.

ALL are WELCOME!!!
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This is an outreach message the new Portland, Oregon chapter is passing around in order to secure help from the broader community.

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

We are writing to offer you a role in an important and very meaningful humanitarian project. Possibly you share our varied emotions about the U.S. occupation and war in Iraq — grief, outrage, and hopelessness. We recently learned of a project that felt very compelling for us — as a way to organize something good and hopeful in response to the killing and destruction carried out in our name in Iraq.

We would like to create a project here in the Portland area with the organization called No More Victims. No More Victims (NMV) is an American group that has developed a way to address the unfair burden children are bearing in the brutal Iraq war. They identify specific children who have been injured by the war, and help local communities here organize to aid the children and their families. Participation can happen in several ways: (more…)