No More Victims

Maha

Maha


Maha's injuries are severely debilitating.

Maha's body was crushed in 2004 when a US missile slammed into her home in Al Qaim, Iraq, near the Syrian border. She is permanently paralyzed from the waist down and suffers from chronic bedsores. Students at Boston College are working to provide Maha with an electric wheelchair and other medical equipment. They're also learning about the circumstances Maha must confront in her daily life, and assessing how they might help meet some of her most pressing needs (MS Word document).

Maha Update

After the Boston College NMV chapter conducted a needs assessment, doctors recommended that Maha continue to use a regular wheel chair to exercise her upper body; they advised that an electric wheel chair was not indicated in her case. Instead, students helped with the delivery of the following items:

  • A medical mattress designed to reduce bedsores;
  • A wheel chair;
  • A toilet chair;
  • A new generator (image); the price of kerosene has skyrocketed in Iraq, and the family was being forced to get by without heat – now they will be warm for the rest of the winter;
  • Two space heaters;
  • A portable DVD player and educational materials to help Maha resume her studies.

Maha in the wheelchair provided by NMV's Boston College chapter.
Maha with the wheelchair and other items purchased with funds raised by NMV's Boston College chapter.
Students are also helping fund a private tutor for Maha, who will be visiting Maha each week and helping her with her studies. She has lost more than three and a half years of education, and is struggling to catch up.

We've also learned about many other losses the family suffered. Maha's younger brother was killed by an unexploded cluster bomb at the age of 13. Two other family members have also killed by US forces. More information will be posted soon.

We will be posting more information about Maha soon.