On this week’s episode of Truthdig Radio in collaboration with KPFK: the great Bill Moyers on the desperate state of our democracy, Nomi Prins on the scandalous IMF and Cole Miller on grass-roots philanthropy.
Lineup:
0:35 - Nomi Prins
7:09 - Cole Miller
21:20 - Bill Moyers
Click here to listen to the program or read the transcript.
Updated: Friday, 06 May 2011, 7:31 AM EDT
Published : Thursday, 05 May 2011, 10:51 AM EDT
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - Hamzah Al-Daeni has seen and lived through more than any 8-year-old should. In May 2008, he was playing in the yard of his family’s home in Iraq when an American missile landed nearby. He lost his leg, and several family members were killed.
“His house is right in the middle, between the American Army and (forces loyal to the opposition,”) said his translator, Shadia Kanaan. “He was almost caught in the crossfire, and so the American missile hit right in front of the house.”
But a local organization, Healing Children of Conflict , is trying to help. And for the first time, they’ve brought a child to the US, to Grand Rapids, for treatment.
“Initially there was one hospital in Iraq and they told him he had no chance of making it,” Kanaan told 24 Hour News 8. “So this is kind of a miracle.”
His father, Imad, was desperate to get help for his son. “(Imad) says the trauma, the experience of what happened to his son was so traumatic, and he was very angry at the American Army,” Kanaan said.
Though not independently confirmed by 24 Hour News 8, Healing Children of Conflict said the shrapnel that injured Hamzah came from a missile only used by US forces in Iraq.
Imad already sold their house and car, among other possessions, to help pay for medical bills. So he turned to the country he blamed for his son’s injuries.
He connected with Healing Children of Conflict, a Grand Rapids-based organization with a mission to help children seriously injured in conflicts involving the United States.
“For him to come here and see this humanitarian effort, it really changed his mind completely,” Kanaan said of Imad. “He’s seeing things from a completely different perspective. He’s actually very grateful for that.”
A welcoming ceremony took place Thursday at the Ronald McDonald House of West Michigan. Hamzah will be in Grand Rapids for several weeks for treatment and to be fitted with a prosthetic leg.
Click here to listen online.
The two girls had never met before last weekend, but they already had a special connection.One is a 12-year-old Iraqi who lost her legs during an American airstrike. The other is a 15-year-old Carmel High School student.
Three years ago, Salee Allawi was playing outside her home in Fallujah, Iraq, when a missile hit. The explosion killed her brother and injured her legs so seriously that they were amputated below the knees.
On Sept. 19, Salee traveled with her father, Hussein Feras, from Los Angeles — where she is spending the month to break in her new prosthetic legs — to the Peninsula to meet Lexi Mooneyham, a Carmel Valley girl who raised $600 to help pay for Salee’s travels to the United States.
“Meeting her was like a dream come true,” Lexi said. “It was reassuring to know that all those efforts I was doing were going to a great cause, that I helped someone and to see the effects of that.”
Bear hugs and welcoming smiles greeted Salee Allawe when she returned to Shriners Hospital for Children on Wednesday, two years after traveling to Greenville from Iraq to be fitted with prosthetic legs.
The Iraqi girl lost both legs in a missile strike, according to No More Victims, the group that arranged her trip. She captivated Greenville in 2007 with her courage and determination as she underwent surgery, then was fitted for the legs that let her walk and play again.
She was scheduled to return 12 to 18 months later for new legs to accommodate her growth, but No More Victims instead arranged for her treatment near its Los Angeles headquarters.
But because Salee and her father, Hussein, preferred the care they received in Greenville and felt at home here, local volunteers raised money to pay for their return visit, said Ann Miller, the group’s national community coordinator.
“The care (in Los Angeles) was good, but they’re just so much more comfortable with the team in Greenville,” Miller said. “They are so excited to be coming back.” Read the rest of this entry »
OCT. 23, 2006: Noora Afif Abdulhameed is hit by a sniper’s bullet in Iraq on her way home from a family celebration. The bullet makes a large hole in her skull and destroys her cerebral membrane, the protective covering that surrounds the brain. Noora lies in a coma for 10 days.
JUNE 6, 2008: Noora and her father, Afif Abdulhameed Otaiwi, leave their hometown of Heet and travel to Amman, Jordan, the first leg of their journey to America.
JULY 10, 2008: Noora and her father arrive at the Portland Jetport, where they are greeted by a crowd of well-wishers.
JULY 15, 2008: Noora goes to Maine Medical Center for the first time for a CT scan to assess the extent of her head injury. Doctors are unable to find a usable vein because of the scar tissue she’s developed getting numerous IVs in Iraq, and the procedure is delayed for a few days.
A seven-year-old girl is finally enjoying a long-awaited reunion with her mother and siblings, after spending nearly a year in Maine. Noora Abdulhameed and her father traveled to Portland for medical treatment to repair injuries she suffered during the war.
For the past year, NECN reporter Marnie MacLean and videographer Dave Brosemer have followed Noora’s progress. They bring you Noora’s journey.
SCARBOROUGH (March 3, 2009): Harrison Tice loves to roller skate. He does it a few times a week playing street hockey in his Scarborough neighborhood. Now the 10-year-old is taking his love for his pastime and turning it into a way to help a young lady he calls “one special person.”
Since late January, Harrison has been planning a fundraiser to help pay medical expenses for Noora Afif Abdulhameed, a 7-year-old Iraqi girl injured in the fighting in Iraq in 2006. She has been in Portland since last summer, receiving medical treatment for head injuries.
Harrison with Noora. (Photo by Elizabeth Campbell)
“I just wanted to help her,” Harrison said. “I understand that I am pretty lucky to live here and that other kids aren’t as lucky. I thought this would be a good way to give back.”
Harrison, along with Happy Wheels in Portland, will host two hours of skating at the rink on March 14. All proceeds will go to Noora’s cause and skate rentals are free during the event.
“I like to skate and I figured this is something others might want to do as well,” Harrison said.
Harrison learned about Noora’s plight after studying and reporting on the war in Iraq as part of a cultural studies project in his fifth-grade class at Breakwater School in Portland.
While doing research, he came across Noora’s story in a newspaper and decided to take his project a step further and raise money for her, said his mother, Elizabeth Campbell.
In October 2006, Noora, who was 5 at the time, was shot in the head by U.S. snipers. According to the advocacy Web site www.nomorevictims.org, Noora’s medical records show she had sustained an explosive bullet injury to her head that smashed skull bones and ruptured her cerebral membrane.
She underwent several neurological surgeries in Iraq, but members of nomorevictims.org brought her to Portland so she could undergo more surgery to repair her skull.
Harrison met Noora in February during school vacation. The visit, he said, strengthened his desire to help.
“In Iraq she didn’t always have electricity or clean water and that made me sad,” Harrison said. “I had fun getting to meet her and I can’t believe how well she speaks English.”
Harrison sought his mother’s help in his quest to aid Noora.
“He came to me and said he wanted to do this,” Campbell said. “I always knew he was a caring kid, but this isn’t something you really expect to come from a 10-year-old.”
Initially, Harrison thought he would raise some money through a bottle drive. Then, with his mom’s help, he began calling Greater Portland businesses to see if they would be interested in hosting an event to defray costs of Noora’s medical care.
Many businesses were interested in an arrangement where 25 percent of the proceeds would go to Noora’s cause.
That was good, but Harrison had another idea. He decided to call Happy Wheels in Portland, one of his favorite places to skate. He then got what he described as some of the best news of his life.
“They told me they would help and that they would donate all of the money from the event to Noora,” he said.
And so, on Saturday, March 14, Happy Wheels is going to do just that, manager Dan Dyer said. The fundraiser will go from 5:15 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. and admission is $4.50.
“We couldn’t believe they were donating all 100 percent of those proceeds to this cause,” Campbell said. “We were shocked.”
Dyer said Happy Wheels owner Paul White believes in fundraising causes that help children like Noora. To him, hosting the event was a no-brainer, Dyer said.
“We are just glad we can help,” Dyer said. “Paul White is big into giving back and we felt this one of the best ways we could do that.”
Harrison said he doesn’t have any monetary goal for the fundraiser, but said he hopes at least a few people will show up.
“Not everybody can be there and not everybody can skate,” Harrison said. “This allows them to still give if they want to.”
Noora is currently staying at the Ronald McDonald House in Portland and is scheduled for more surgery, Campbell said.
If people don’t skate or can’t make the event, they can still donate money to Noora’s cause by e-mailing Campbell at ecamp.main.rr.com, or calling her at 885-1373.