Abdul-Hakeem, 10, was at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh on Thursday for more surgery to repair the scarred left side of his face, disfigured when coalition forces shelled his Fallujah home on April 9, 2004.

In 2006, No More Victims, a Los Angeles nonprofit, brought the boy and his father, Ismaeel Khalaf Hussein, to Pittsburgh for surgery to give him a prosthetic eye and to repair his mouth. Children’s Hospital doctors donated services and the Ray Tye Medical Aid Foundation, a Massachusetts nonprofit, helped cover medical costs. They returned to Iraq five months later.

“When we went back (to Iraq), he was definitely much happier, he felt better about how he looked,” said Hussein.

Abdul-Hakeem said his favorite subject is reading; he loves the lions at the Pittsburgh Zoo, SpongeBob SquarePants and Pittsburgh’s snow. As with his last visit to Pittsburgh, he let his shiny brown hair grow long.

“When I go back to Iraq, then I’ll get a haircut,” he said, grinning.

The boy and his father returned to Pittsburgh in December. A balloon was inserted beneath the skin on his cheek and slowly inflated over the past several months to prompt good skin to grow. The pair stayed at the Ronald McDonald House in Shadyside.

Yesterday, Dr. Fred Deleyiannis, a plastic surgeon at Children’s, removed the balloon and about 90 percent of a skin graft that encircled the left side of Abdul-Hakeem’s mouth. He then pulled the new skin over the void in a two-hour operation.

“It went great,” Deleyiannis said. “We were able to remove about 90 to 95 percent of the skin graft.”

Abdul-Hakeem will heal for a few weeks and, if there are no complications, he’ll return to Iraq within a month. No more surgeries are planned.

In the past year, life in Fallujah has gotten easier, Hussein said. There is less violence, so he sees fewer American soldiers.

But they still have intermittent water, and electricity is only available for two hours a day. Though he is retired, Hussein works odd jobs, such as driving a taxi, to make extra money to fuel a generator. He is trying to find a way to get his wife, who was injured, to another country for surgery.

Earlier this week, the family received happy news: Hussein’s daughter-in-law is pregnant, and he would soon be a grandfather for the first time. That will make Abdul-Hakeem an uncle.

The boy, who just turned 10 on March 2, said he is still adjusting to being a pre-teen.

“I think I’m too young to be an uncle,” he said.

Winding up what is expected to be his final visit for care at Children’s Hospital — aided by Dr. Fred Deleyiannis, the hospital and the Ray Tye Medical Aid Foundation — Abdul continues to get assistance from a nonprofit group that helps child victims of war, No More Victims. It first brought Abdul to Pittsburgh two years ago.

Some young professionals and the Pittsburgh design team Studio-220 will hold a benefit art show for Abdul at SPACE Art Gallery from 5 p.m. to midnight April 4. Money raised will build a fund for Abdul and his family when they return home and will support medical relief for other war-injured Iraqi children.

Local artists will donate artwork that takes an image of a bomb and transforms it into an image of promise; they will be on sale at the benefit. Also, Abdul is expected to visit, bands will perform and No More Victims founder Cole Miller will speak.

Donations will be accepted. The art gallery is at 812 Liberty Ave., Downtown.

Susi: “It was something tangible I could do and I think I felt helpless the last few years in being able to do anything.”

Susi is working with an organization called ‘No More Victims’ that helps Iraqi children injured by American fire. Nora is one of those children.

Susi: “She’s 6-years-old and she was hit in the head by a bullet that penetrated through the roof of her car while driving with her family.”

The bullet shattered her skull. Nora has undergone four surgeries in Iraq…but there’s nothing more doctors in that country can do for her. She needs additional cranial surgery and a prosthetic skull. Now, Susi and others are trying to raise at least $12,000 to bring Nora and her father to Maine where she can get help.

Thankfully Susi Eggenberger won’t have to raise money for Nora’s surgery. Maine’s only pediatric nuerosurgeon, Dr. James Wilson has agreed to do the surgery for free.

And the Ronald McDonald house in Portland has agreed to let Nora and her father stay for free while she recovers from surgery, which could be several months.

Robin Chibroski, Executive Director of the Ronald McDonald House says, “the part for us is to be able to reach out and support this family. I can only imagine the nightmares they’ve been going through and the fears. By coming to the Ronald McDonald House they don’t have to worry about lodging and food.”

The $12,000 will pay travel costs and help Nora’s mother and sibling live while Nora and her father are in the U.S.

Susi: “I feel wonderful about the fact that the community will be able to be part of this and meet Nora and spend time with Nora and I think there will be a lot of healing on both sides because of that.”

Healing, and Susi hopes a way for people in Maine to connect with the war in Iraq…through the eyes of one young girl.

Nora is expected to arrive in Maine in early May. If you are interested in making a donation to help bring her to the United States you can go to www.nomorevictims.org.

“I knew I could do something about the devastation that’s been caused in Iraq,” Craig said. “I decided then to start a chapter of No More Victims here in Asheville.”

No More Victims is a national relief organization that works to get medical sponsorship for war-injured Iraqi children and to forge ties between the children, their families and communities in the United States. It is the subject of the monthly movie night at the Unitarian/Universalist Church on Friday.

Also at the event will be Ann Cothran, who is with the Greenville, S.C., chapter and was one of the people responsible for Salee’s treatment at the Shriner’s Hospital there.

Since Salee’s visit in September, Craig and six other women have worked to bring another child here for treatment. The group learned recently that they will be able to bring Rusul Jalal, Salee’s 6-year-old cousin, to Greenville, S.C., for treatment at the Shriner’s Hospital there. Rusul was injured in the same air strike as Salee in November 2006..

Ymani Simmons, of Asheville, is another of the women working to bring Rusul here.

“As a longtime worker for world peace, I was despondent over the failure of the peace movement to have an effect on the U.S. occupation of Iraq,” she said. “But this allows me to step up to the plate and do something instead of waiting for things to get better.”

Craig and Simmons talked about grassroots movements being the way to bring about peace.

“I think this is a good way for Christians, Jews, Muslims — all the people in these mountains to work together,” Simmons said.

The bullet shattered bones and ruptured her cerebral membrane. After four surgeries in Iraq, Noora Afif Abdulhameed needs a prosthetic replacement for skull bone, as well as plastic surgery.

She’ll be getting both in Portland this spring, thanks to the efforts of a group of southern Maine residents who have obtained commitments of free treatment and surgery at Maine Medical Center.

Now the group, working with a national organization called No More Victims, is hoping to raise funds locally to pay the other costs associated with bringing Noora and her father here for a stay of up to six months.

“There are so many times when you just talk about doing something,” says Susi Eggenberger, an Arundel resident and former registered nurse who is helping to lead the fund-raising drive. “When I learned about what has happened to these Iraqi children, it just struck a chord in me.”

The group has been working with Dr. James T. Wilson, a Portland neurosurgeon, who has offered to provide free surgeries. MaineMed and Ronald McDonald House have also offered services at no cost.

Eggenberger said the group is now working with churches, schools, social services agencies and other nonprofit organizations to raise awareness of Noora’s treatment and cover non-medical expenses. She and her father are expected to arrive in late April or early May.

The group will begin its fund-raising by sponsoring a visit this week by Cole Miller, founder of No More Victims, the organization that brings injured Iraqi children to the United States for treatment.Miller and an associate will speak at churches and other locations Thursday and Sunday in Kennebunk, Brunswick and Portland.

Miller, 51, is a free-lance writer from Los Angeles who founded No More Victims in 2002, when it became clear the United States was going to invade Iraq. He said he was moved by the plight of children who were injured in Vietnam and by U.S. incursions into Central America during the Reagan administration.

“I just decided to put this together because I knew what the war portended for Iraqi civilians,” he said.No More Victims has brought six children to the United States so far. It also organizes support for children with permanent injuries who need help in Iraq with medical or non-medical needs, such as wheelchairs, prosthetics, educational materials and tutoring.

It costs $17,000 to $35,000 for each child’s stay in this country, and Miller says No More Victims has raised $200,000 to $250,000 since its inception to bring children here or to support children’s needs in Iraq.The organization has a center in Amman, Jordan that coordinates activities and evacuates children to the United States, but the operation is low-budget, Miller said. He runs the operation out of his apartment in Los Angeles and said he draws no salary himself. His national coordinator in this country is a volunteer.

“It’s really startling what communities can do and how they’ll rise to the occasion … and feel the gratification of seeing a war-injured child get better,” he said.

Wilson, the doctor who is donating his care, is Maine’s only pediatric neurosurgeon. He said skull reconstruction and related plastic surgery goes hand-in-hand with operating on the brain. But Noora’s procedure will be especially challenging because she has already undergone several surgeries.

“It is a higher risk when you’re going in on on a delayed basis, after somebody has already been there, which is why a lot of people don’t do this type of work,” he said.

Wilson said he enjoys doing free surgery for relief efforts and has previously donated his services for two children from Central America.

“This child is extremely unfortunate,” he said, “and I’d like to do what I can to help her along in her life.”

Eggenberger, the volunteer from Arundel, is a documentary photographer who happened upon No More Victims while searching the Internet on an unrelated matter. She said she was moved by the chance to help a child, but the opportunity to live her politics also played a role in her decision.

“Noora is my first concern, and the kids that are being injured are absolutely my first concern, but at some level it certainly is a political statement for me as well,” she said.

Miller said the families of injured children find No More Victims through human rights organizations, the United Nations and a network of physicians inside Iraq. He acknowledged that many children also suffer at the hands of sectarian violence among internal groups.

But Miller said he chose to focus on children injured by U.S. actions because he wanted to raise public awareness of the impact of the U.S. presence in Iraq, which he strongly opposes.

“Since I’m one person, I have to choose, and I want to focus on those children for whom I have direct responsibility,” he said.

Noora will be the second Iraqi child brought to MaineMed for free treatment.

In 2005, Noor Abd Al-Hady Hassan, 5, came to Portland for corrective heart surgery by Dr. Reed Quinn, founder of the Pediatric Fund for the Maine Foundation of Cardiac Surgery.

The two are coordinating a concert to benefit No More Victims, a nonprofit organization committed to restoring the health and well being to victims of war and advocating for peace, at 6 p.m., Friday, April 18, at Rocketown.

“We actually were looking for a benefit to raise money for,” Yousuf said. “What we were looking for was a new charity that isn’t professionally staffed and didn’t have millions of dollars so our contributions could really make a difference. We just wanted to try something new.”

The organization they found after researching on the Internet was No More Victims, which works to obtain medical sponsorships for war-injured Iraqi children and to forge ties between the children, their families and communities in the United States.

“I look at the news a lot,” Yousuf said. “I saw a statement by the World Health Organization saying that Iraqi children are more vulnerable than ever, and it’s the most dramatic decline in recent history.”

Cole Miller of Los Angeles developed the No More Victims project, helping organize and fund the effort to get medical treatment for Iraqi children and their families.

Miller’s efforts have inspired more than 30 American communities to develop similar projects under the banner of No More Victims.

While the program unites the efforts of Americans, Yousuf plans for the fundraiser to unite young Nashville.

“This is completely youth-oriented,” said Yousuf, who also sits on the Mayor’s Youth Council.

Yousuf and Hailey are recruiting young bands and artists to donate their time and work to the inter-faith cause.

Yousuf, a Muslim, and Hailey, a Christian, have been working with their communities of faith to raise awareness and funds for the planned event.

Many community-based organizations such as the Oasis Center, the Mayor’s Youth Council, local businesses, and various churches, synagogues and mosques have joined the effort to help raise funds and promote the effort.

For more information, or to purchase tickets, contact Yousuf Ahmad at 525-7634 or yousuf80 at gmail dotcom.

A benefit concert, “No More Victims,” will be held on Thursday. The event is hosted by Best Heard Blind, in Association with the Mountain View Market Co-op Rocks program.

No More Victims is a nonprofit organization working to restore health and well-being to victims of war, specifically children. No More Victims helps to organize and fund the effort to get medical treatment for Iraqi families in need.

More than 30 American communities have been inspired to develop similar projects under the banner of No More Victims. Founding director and Los Angeles resident Cole Miller will be speaking at the benefit concert.

Best Heard Blind is a Las Cruces record label, inclusive with events promotion and artist representation.

“We don’t just press a CD and then get it out there,” said Alejandro Paz, president of Best Heard Blind. “We cover all the aspects like album art, publicity, booking shows. We’re like a family unit.”

One of the major goals of Best Heard Blind is to channel the untapped talent in Las Cruces and share it with the masses.

“There is a strong music scene here, even if there aren’t many venues,” Paz said. “There are lots of musicians in this town and incredible music is coming out of it. It’s like we found a little secret and we want to share it with the outside world.”

Best Heard Blind is working to become all-inclusive when it comes to music. They will be in association with sister company Best Read Blind to create a soundtrack for a short film to be shot in New Mexico with a predominately New Mexican and Native American cast.

The benefit show will begin with a performance by folk singer Evan Woodward, followed by Starmaggot; Zealots of Anarchy; Faceless Entertainment; Finnigan and the No Gooders, a feel good alt-rock band with ska influences; Shahid Mustafa; Psykryptica, a metal band; Kultivation; Horror from this House, a thrash metal band.

“We’re trying to create awareness,” Paz said. “There will be multiple other benefits for other worthy organizations, just to get the word out in Las Cruces.”

The concert is at 6 p.m. at the Mountain View Market. Admittance is free, but $5 donations are appreciated. To learn more about No More Victims, visit http://www.nomorevictims.org

The U.S. military attacked 19-year-old Obaid and her family as they drove along a Fallujah highway in August 2004, she told a group of Americans — including some from Mariposa and El Portal — dedicated to getting her medical treatment.

Obaid’s uncle died, shrapnel lodged in her mother’s chest and metal shards ripped into her eye.

Fellow Iraqis wouldn’t take them to the hospital because they were intimidated by the U.S. soldiers’ presence at the checkpoint, she recalled. Finally, the troops left and they were taken to the hospital, where she was given pain pills, but no treatment.

After suffering day after day and year after year since then, Obaid will finally be able to lift her head.

About a week ago, doctors removed the damaged, sagging eye to prepare the socket for a prosthetic replacement, a procedure funded by residents in Mariposa, El Portal and Chico through No More Victims. The replacement will match the almond pupil of her other eye, as well as its movement.

She’ll still be blind in that eye.

No More Victims, an international relief organization based in Los Angeles, works to help innocent victims wounded from the United States’ invasion and occupation of Iraq.

By doing so, they hope to show that compassion for Iraqis exists among many Americans and to break the cycle of violence, founding director Cole Miller said. “Cause and effect continue to exist,” he said. “There are people who are going to want to get revenge. It’s a natural human reaction.”

A couple of the residents raising money to help Obaid talked with her over the phone for the first time Wednesday through a translator. The conversation ranged from her feelings about Americans to what the surgery means to her.

The operation, to be performed by doctors in Amman, Jordan, is estimated to cost between $8,000 and $10,000. She’ll probably stay in that country for about two months before returning to Fallujah.

The Chico chapter of No More Violence has raised about $4,000 through donations and events, and the Greater Good Project is going to hold fundraising in events next month in El Portal and Mariposa, the group’s vice-president Vicki McMichaels said.

They hope to raise between $500 and $1,000 and acquaint residents with the war’s human toll. “It’s not a political thing. It’s a humanist response,” she said. “It puts a face to the bombing. It puts a family to the situation.”

The attack kept Obaid out of school, and she’s finishing up high school while her former classmates are starting college, said Iraqi Maki Nazzal, No More Victims’ international coordinator.

After the attack, her husband divorced her, and the pressure on women like Obaid to look beautiful has made the obvious injury even more traumatic, Nazzal noted. “She can’t be normal anymore,” he said. “Nobody could.”

She’s outraged at the American forces’ unprovoked outburst of violence, Nazzal relayed, though she’s comforted to know there are U.S. citizens who share her feelings and care about her people.

Though Obaid’s injuries should have never occurred, Nazzal said he finds solace in bringing aid to the so-called collateral damage of warfare.

“It really makes me feel that I’m still human in this ugly world,” he said.

In Arabic, “noor” means light, he said, noting the awful reality that she’s lost half the light she would otherwise see because of American troops.

And ever since the attack, she’s been trying to keep her outlook on humanity from darkening as well.

Jesse Medina, the band’s guitarist and vocalist, said the event always brings out a variety of people of all ages.

Finnigan and the No Gooders will perform with other artists for the latest Co-Op Rocks Ð “No More Victims” Valentine’s Day benefit concert — from 6 p.m. to midnight tonight at Mountain View Market, 1300 El Paseo Road, Suite M.

No More Victims raises money to provide medical care to Iraqi children injured by the war, even bringing them to the United States for medical treatment, which Medina said is a cause his band wanted to support.

“Growing up in the borderland like this, everyone kind of sees some sides of that,” he said.

Shahid Mustafa, general manager of Mountain View Market, said the Co-Op hosts two or three music events per year, which often raise money for various causes.

“It’s been a good way to get the message out to young people in the community,” Mustafa said.

And this time, he volunteered to perform at the event.

“It was just kind of coincidental that what they (No More Victims) were trying to promote was something that I believed in strongly,” Mustafa said. Cole Miller founded No More Victims from his Los Angeles dining room in September 2002.

“I wanted to show the human face of what so many in the media call collateral damage,” Miller said in a phone interview from Los Angeles.

Although the event is free, Miller said donations will be accepted to help bring more Iraqi children to the United State for medical care and support.

“Certainly the human element is not being covered, we never hear what somebody’s name was or how it affects the family,” Miller said.

The event will include performances by 3/5 HUMAN, Shahid Mustafa, Zealots of Anarchy, Starmaggot, The Horror From This House, Kultivation, Finnigan and The No Gooders, comedy by Red and Paz and more.

“I think it will help get the message out, maybe it will help interest people who are aficionados of that music and encourage young people in the area to attend,” Miller said.

Miller and Ann Cothran, community coordinator for South Carolina’s No More Victims, will present information about No More Victims from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Co-Op.

For information, call Mountain View Market at (575) 523-0436. To learn more about No More Victims, visit www.nomorevictims.org.

Jenn Kistler can be reached at jkistler@lcsun-news.com

If you go

What: “No More Victims” Valentine’s Day benefit concert

When: 6 p.m. to midnight today

Where: Mountain View Market, 1300 El Paseo Road, Suite M

Cost: Free. Donations appreciated.

Info: (575) 523-0436