Saad’s tv came today, and that concludes the work we are doing to acclimate him in his new apartment, which we helped him get last week. This is a stellar case of how the Army Of Good can work, efficiently, appropriately, and humanely.
Here is what we have done to date for Saad, a once prosperous and successful Iraqi cut off from home and family, and without resources. Saad, who worked with the U.S. Embassy during the Iraq war, and who lost everything afterwards, was in danger of being killed by religious extremists and made it to a U.N. refugee camp, where was relocated to the United States in a lottery program now being discontinued by our government.
Without any money or support, he had to leave a one-room apartment he shared with another man. He was in desperate need of help.
What we are doing for him:
We paid the deposit on his apartment, he is paying the monthly rent. This enabled him to move in. We are also paying the deposit for cable for his apartment, and the first three months cable charge.
We gave him $200 to trade in his old and broken cellphone for a new Iphone 6 with which he can e-mail, text message and communicate with his eight children, who are in Iraq and are unable to come to the United States due to our governments’ new immigration policies. He also seems to love Face Time, he prefers it to regular phone calls. This has reconnected him to his family and to his lost world.
On Sunday, Ali and I are bringing him the following:
At 32 inch screen TV, that will connect to his new cable and permit him to see arabic channels and programming. He has heart disease and diabetes, and is not yet able to work or find work, although he keeps on looking. He wants to work and is taking English classes. As of now, there is nothing for him to do or see in his apartment, he is the only person in the building who speaks only arabic.
Four framed prints, art scenes and flowers to put on his bare walls.
Two original water color paintings from Vermont Artist Rachel Barlow, donated by her.
A linen map of Arabia, donated by Maria, she had it in her studio, it was sent by a reader of her blog.
A new RCA radio so he can listen to music, which he loves.
We’ll bring Saad these things on Sunday (he doesn’t know yet, it’s a surprise. I’ll be there to take photos.
We are also bringing a months worth of groceries and toiletries.
This will conclude, for now, our work with Saad.
We’ll keep an eye on him, and Ali will make sure all of these items are working and connected. We will check in on him once or twice a week, but the idea is for him to be independent as quickly as possible, this is his life now, and he has to figure out how he can live it. We will move on to other needy cases.
Our role is to help people get started and stable, not to take over their lives.
Saad is in a good place now. Last week he was a desperate wreck with hope and some peace of mind. That feels good.
As some of you know, I’m trying to raise $1,800 in support of Hawah Altoun, a Libyan refugee cast out of her apartment and forced into a homeless shelter because the city welfare department cut her rent subsidy by $150 a month to help pay for medical care for her critically ill husband Hassan, who has spinal cancer and is in a coma.
As with many other refugees I have met, Hawah came to America after her life was shattered, and then essentially abandoned her to fend for herself. She speaks no English, and has no specific skills.
Because she couldn’t pay the full amount with the full subsidy, she was locked out of her apartment and went with her two sons to a shelter, which she calls” the dirtiest place on earth.” In Libya, she and Hassan had a good and prosperous life, he worked for 14 years as a large crane operator. Every morning at 4 a.m., she goes out into Albany’s streets to collect bottles, for which she collects between $5 and $6.
The money I am seeking to raise will pay the $150 a month she needs to pay the full rent for one year. She is taking English lessons and looking constantly for work. She wants no other help, she is a strong, proud and very ethical person. This is the first time in her life that she has asked for help or accepted it. “Please, please, get me out of her,” she messaged Ali this morning in Arabic.
So far, I have collected $600 for this project. We need $1,100 more to get her out of that shelter. You can help by contributing to “Hawah”, c/o Jon Katz, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816, or via Paypal, [email protected]. Thanks. I will not be at ease until she is “out of there” with her two young boys. That shelter is no place for them either.