One works in literacy training, another to prevent child abuse. A third cares for her ailing grandparents.

With day jobs like those, you’d think they’d spend their free time unwinding at the spa. Instead, these women put their heads together to help a war-injured child in Iraq.

The result is new prosthetic legs for Salee Allawe, a 10-year-old Iraqi girl who lost both limbs below the knee in an air strike last fall.

Since July, she’s been undergoing medical treatment at Shriners Hospital for Children in Greenville — care provided free by the hospital and made possible by the Upstate Coalition of Compassion.

The coalition literally sprouted from a Mustard Seed ó the name for the interfaith youth group formed by Williamston residents Ann Cothran and Selena Frank as a way to get their 14-year-old sons and their friends involved in helping the homeless.

“We started back in 2005 trying to help a child blinded by a cluster bomb long distance through Mustard Seed,” says Cothran. “But that ended when the child was displaced and never found. That is when we decided it was time to bring a child here.”

At one of their presentations to inspire community interest, Lisa Hall of Greenville was hooked. And from that meeting sprang the Upstate Coalition of Compassion, a humanitarian group dedicated to reaching across the world to help.

“Sometimes geographical and cultural distances mean people don’t feel connected with people who are far away and it’s easy for us to dismiss things that are happening to them sometimes,” says Hall, a program manager with the Greenville Literacy Association.

“But anybody who’s met this pair no longer feels disconnected,” she says about Salee and her father. “They are wonderful warm folks. And it becomes evident right away that we share so much. It’s very easy to understand what they’re going through and what it would be like to have a child hurt.”

There are eight to 12 people in the core group, Cothran says. But many other people have volunteered to help. And while the Coalition is made up of adults, Mustard Seed held a car wash and yard sale, which raised about $1,000 for Salee. Another project “Bring $1 for Salee Day” in Anderson School District I raised another $1,000.

There were bake sales and concerts and raffles and more. And dozens of checks from people who’d heard about the project. All told, more than $12,000 was raised for the project. And since Salee’s arrival, Girl Scouts have stopped by to bake cookies with her and members of the local Islamic Center have come by with gifts of food.

“A lot of people felt very frustrated that they couldn’t do anything about what they saw in the news and this was a way to help,” says Hall.

Volunteers are from both major political parties and many different religions, they are veterans and homemakers, pacifists and supporters of the war in Iraq, says Cothran, an outreach worker with Strong Communities, a public service of Clemson University aimed at preventing child abuse.

“There are people who are interested in peace or who just want to reach out to a child,” she says.

“There are many people of many political persuasions who are deeply disturbed by what’s happening to civilians in Iraq. They may even disagree about whether the war was justified or not,” says Hall. “Yet may want to do something about what’s happening to people.”

“I don’t think we’ve heard anything negative about the project,” adds Frank, who is caregiver to her elderly grandparents. “And every time Salee goes somewhere, there are people who come over and recognize her and say, ‘We’re so glad you’re here.’ ”

Hall also hopes the project will help build bridges with people in the Middle East.

All three say their faith played a role in forming the coalition.

“We were put here to help each other,” says Frank.

“Many of the things I do I see as an outgrowth of my faith. But definitely this project,” says Hall. “I feel very strongly about alleviating suffering in the world.”

“My faith has a lot to do with this, and not just helping the poor, but peace related issues,” adds Cothran. “But what we’re getting back from doing this is a lot more than what we’re putting into it.”

As she grows up, Salee will have to come back to Shriners from time to time for new prostheses. And Cothran says the coalition has vowed to help make that possible.

“I am so grateful to the people of Greenville, Shriners hospital and all the doctors and staff there, and Ronald McDonald House, and the Upstate Coalition of Compassion for all their dedicated work,” says Cole Miller, founder of No More Victims, the group that links Iraqi children with health care in the United States. “It’s the communities that make this happen.”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 2nd, 2007 and is filed under Salee. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. | News Archive Home