WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW Salee completed her second round of prosthetics treatment in Greenville. Nora has returned home after successful treatment in Maine. While continuing with our ordinary work, NMV is now working to seed fully independent projects in the US and abroad, and developing a documentary.
You can read more coverage here, here, and here, and a report by Human Rights Watch here.
At this stage, HCC is arranging for Sayed to receive a thorough medical examination in Kabul. He suffered a depressed skull fracture and a relatively small amount of contused (and presumably contaminated) brain was removed. A small section of skull bone was also destroyed, which can be treated by a bone graft or custom implant. He continues to experience intense headaches, and the severity of his head injury could be associated with cognitive problems and the possible development of epilepsy.
Stephanie Duprat who led the College of Alameda NMV chapter, has moved to Montreal. Stephanie hopes to continue her efforts from her new home in Canada.
The Friends of Salee are 12, 13, and 14 year-old girls who attend Culver City Middle School. They had the chance to meet and visit Salee at the Ronald McDonald House in Los Angeles in fall 2009. They individually have a jar to put coins in for Salee. One of the mothers has knitted holiday items that were sold at a holiday boutique. They also invited family and friends for a fundraiser dinner that they personally planned and prepared.
In today’s society people like to only see what they want to. Honestly, everyone is willing to help if they would just open their eyes. All of this is stoppable. I just want to help the ones who need it more than anyone. Charity is an amazing thing. All I want is for kids just like me to have the same opportunities that I do everyday. Every child deserves a sun rise.
Beth DeLap, author of “The Lioness, the Rich, and the Humvee” will be speaking at Malaprops Bookstore on Monday, March 22, at 7:00 p.m. She will also sign copies of her book. Proceeds from the sale of “The Lioness, the Rich, and the Humvee” support the work of No More Victims.
Malaprops Bookstore is located at 55 Haywood Street, Asheville, North Carolina (828) 254-6734.
Beth DeLap, No More Victims volunteer, friend, and author from Asheville, North Carolina has written this wonderful and entertaining parody on CS Lewis’ “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe”. DeLap’s book takes place in modern-day Iraq and provides an insightful read as we view the human tragedy of the war in Iraq through the eyes of American children. Adults will love the satire, the political innuendo, and the beauty, tragedy and humor in this book. Everyone will fall in love with the characters, both American and Iraqi, the heroes and heroines. The imagery, imagination and message will stay with you long after you put this one down (and you won’t put it down ’til you finish reading!) The author has taken the beauty of CS Lewis’ words, made the story her own, and given us a book that will make us laugh, cry, THINK, and hopefully, move us to act toward a world of Peace.
All proceeds from the purchase of Beth’s book will go to the work of No More Victims. So please, go tohttp://www.lulu.com/content/4758717 and buy your copy today!
Thank you for helping the war-injured children of Iraq and Afghanistan.
After fundraising for Salee, I never imagined actually getting the chance to meet her and the founders of NMV. Last weekend, that all changed. Meeting Salee for the first time was as if I was meeting my long lost sister. I already had all this love and admiration for her, and I hadn’t even met her yet. As the day went on, all that love just grew. Having the opportunity to actually meet the young woman that I was actually helping was amazing. Seeing first hand, that one single person can actually make a difference in the world, has put everything in new perspective. Meeting Ann and Cole was amazing as well. NMV is doing such a great thing for our world, and I am honored to be a part of this movement.
Many thanks to Ed Skewes, Dr. Jon Davids, Dr. David Westberry, and the wonderful staff at Shriners who’ve welcomed her once again into their care. Also, thanks to Bill Sorochak, Marsha Smith, Marti Spencer, Tasha Bruce and everyone at the Greenville Ronald McDonald House who’ve opened their arms and hearts to Salee and her father. We are also grateful to Salee and Abu Ali’s many friends in the Greenville area who have showered them with affection and hospitality since their arrival.
We survived. Just barely (for me at least) - it was freakin HOT!!!! The first photo is of the nuclear reactors (no longer in use) that were just on the other side of the lake we swam in (more on that later). I was obsessed with taking pictures of them - popping up out of the fields of grapes. It’s been so long since I’ve seen one that they were kind of like an exhibit. Photo 2 is Sarah flying past Mike on her way back for the run. Photo 3 of me on my bike looks like I am barely moving - which I guess at that point I was… Photo 4 is the kids and Sarah helping me get to the finish line. This was after Sarah had finished 10 minutes prior and came back to boost me up! It was so nice to see her come back on the trail. And it was really fun to run with the kids - they were quite the inspiration in the final throes of the day. And the final photo is the happy women who now get to relax and refuel!
Me too. Green with envy as I watched her practically fly up the hill (she got ‘clip on’s’) while I could almost count the pebbles in the black top under me. Seriously, I had NO idea what a difference those silly shoes could make. Now I’m regretting my decision not to sweat in my friend Anne’s shoes (she also let me borrow her clip on’s - and even though they are a ½ size too small, I am now wishing I would have at least tried them out and discovered that they KICK ASS and I needed to buy a pair). It is now 5 days from the race and definitely NOT the time to go searching for shoes, let alone trying to get used to mounting and dismounting. That part, I hear, is NOT like “riding a bike”.
So, I mentioned that it’s 5 (holy cr*p) days until the race. Really?!? Uh… I am definitely NOT feeling ready at this point. I haven’t run in 6 weeks due to injuries, wrong shoes, the flu, and more injuries. I think I will be walking that part a fair amount. I just have to come to terms that I will be finishing much behind my training partner. She’s one of the sweetest people I have met, but man, when she puts her mind to something - you just gotta get out of the way. Right on, Sarah!
If you haven’t yet contributed, please try to give something, anything, to help Naba recover from her tragedy. We still have t-shirts left and the WOMEN’S CHOCOLATE BROWN LARGE AND EXTRA LARGE are ON SALE for $10 (e-mail me at abiagi@hotmail.com for details). If you would like to donate online, go to this link: http://nomorevictims.org/communities/author/mariposa/ . If you do choose to donate online, please put ‘Mariposa/Naba Race’ in the Comment Box on that link so that it will get allocated to Naba and I will add it to our count. If you want to write a check, e-mail me and I can get you details. Thank you SO much!!!
We have raised a little over $500 so far. When I first had the idea to make this race a fundraiser, my personal goal was $2,500. I realize that this is a hard time for most of us, but I have also realized that fundraising is not my best skill. I have to talk to my friend Julie about how she raised $3,000 for breast cancer. Of course, breast cancer is a more wide-reaching issue, but man, I’m feeling a bit inadequate at the moment. It’s also hard to really ‘hit it’ with two kids, but really, I can do better. Look for ‘new and improved’ next year :).
THANKS everyone and I’ll let you know how it goes!!!
