It took several hours to bring in all the packages, open them, hang the paintings, set up the tv. We are helping Saad to get cable next week, he will be able to watch Arabic tv channels and will fell less isolated and alone. Maria brought hooks and a hammer, Saad asked her to put the photos anywhere she wished, and she did.
Maria is amazing at figuring out where art should go and hanging it. Thanks to Susan Popper for the prints, Rachel Barlow for the paintings, Kathleen for some of the money, and the Army of Good for everything else.
He flipped over the linen map of Arabia she donated, he pointed out every single country to us. Slowly, the walls begin to fill up, the room looked warmer and lived in, the echo was gone when we spoke, and Saad was a very happy and grateful. man.
He wanted me to thank the people who contributed to this support and assistance, he is not sure what the Army Of Good, but he wanted me to thank you also. And I do.
If you wish to continue to support me in this work, you can send a contribution to the Gus Fund, c/o Jon Katz, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y.,12816 or via Paypal, [email protected]. More photos of this special day coming.
Two weeks ago, Saad was virtually homeless, with no money for an apartment deposit. Today, he has an apartment in a good and space place, tools to communicate with his world, a chance to figure out how to find work and live in America, and perhaps recover some of the health he lost in a brutal country and a dangerous refugee camp.
You all made it happen, my heart sings out to you in gratitude.
There is absolutely no better feeling than I had this afternoon driving to an apartment near Albany with Maria and meeting Ali and Saad Alaney to help him begin to put his life together.
To his amazed surprise, we brought him a carful of things for his new one-bedroom apartment, two long bus rides and another world from his English language classes in Albany.
The apartment has been so empty it echoes when we speak inside. We changed that today. We brought him six paintings and posters for the walls, a large screen TV, a radio, a linen map of Arabia, a fan,an Arabian-English dictionary, cables for his TV. He has enough food, but I noticed his jacket is worn and ripped in the back. A new one is on the way.
He is loving his new Iphone 6, finally able to talk to his wife and children in Baghdad every day.
Maria and Ali and I had great fun helping Saad set up these things, he is a courteous and generous and polite man. We believe he can take it from here, he paid the deposit for his apartment and the first months rent, he says he doesn’t want any more help, he wants to learn how to be independent and live in America.
Saad knows he can call us anytime, he knows how to reach us and we know how to reach him. It was a sweet and rewarding day.
I come from a refugee family, and this is what I set out to do even before the Army Of Good, a brigade of angels, appeared. I am now doing it, finding refugees in urgent need, helping them stabilize their lives, helping them to become independent.
I know what it means to be a refugee in a strange land. I know what it means to help a refugee in a strange land.
He has food, proper clothing, a warm and safe place to live, access to his culture on TV and his phone, a new jacket that will last until winter. the medicine he needs, a sofa and chair to sit on, a radio to listen to and Arab-English reading and learning materials.
The rest is up to him now. He knows America is a Darwinian country, not a socialist state. People have to stand on their own. Sometimes they need just a bit of help. Saad bravely came to the U.S. Embassy to work for them during that awful war, and it nearly cost him his life.
He was living in Baghdad before his life fell apart.
I can’t explain how good it made me feel to do this, Maria also. Ali and she and I were just lit up, almost high.
“How can I ever thank you?,” Saad blurted out after checking with his dictionary. “You are nothing but a gift to me,” I said.
It feels good to repay him in some small measure. I’ll put up some more photos from this festive and happy day.
Over the weekend Hawah called Ali in desperation, she said the officials running the Church shelter where she is staying threatened to call the police and have her three children taken from her because one of them was late checking into the shelter in the evening.
Her son was late because he was too embarrassed to let his friends know he was living in a shelter and walked home with them and then circled around to the shelter, which took hours.
Hawah, whose husband is on life support in a rehabilitation center, is a refugee from Libya, she speaks no English and the city welfare department cut its temporary subsidy to for her apartment last week to transfer some money to pay the rehab center.
Hawah was left $150 short of the rent, the landlord locked her out of her apartment with all of her belongings inside. She had to take refuge in a shelter which she says is the “dirtiest place on the earth.” We hope to help her pay her rent on a new apartment.
Ali rushed to the shelter to take her and her children to some other place.
Hawah and her husband Hassan were a comfortable middle-class family living near Tripoli until the Gaddafi government tried to force their sons into military service. When they fled the country, they lost everything.
They managed to get to a U.N. refugee camp where they spent several years before getting to the United States. The government took their house and money, and they barely escaped with their lives.
Hassan collapsed soon after their arrival – he was a large crane operator in Libya for 14 years – and was diagnosed with advanced spinal cancer, the doctors say he is not expected to regain consciousness or return home.
Ali contacted other refugee families, and a long time resident of Albany – a truck driver who has known Ali and his family for many years – offered emergency space in his own home for Hawah and her children, until she can find her own apartment, which we are helping her to do.
He refuses to take any money for housing Hawah’s family.
Over the weekend, I raised nearly all of the $1,800 I am seeking to pay the shortfall in the rent she now needs for one year. It took longer and was harder than I expected, but as of Sunday morning, I have about $1,400 of the $1,800 I was seeking, and several people have told me they sent checks to my post office box, it will take several days to arrive. So I think I have what I need for her.
I thank you all again for your deep generosity and compassion.
We were all immensely relieved to see Hawah get clear of the homeless shelter, which was by every account, a filthy and Dickensian nightmare.
When they threatened to take her children away, she was terrified. It is not clear if the Church shelter had the power to take her children away, but she believed that they could, and they claimed that they could.
The owner of the apartment is on the road four days out of five, and there is comfortable quarters for Hawah and her children for at least a few weeks. He has his own private space.
We have a little time to look for the right place, and Hawah is looking for a job.
We are bringing her some groceries Tuesday and have been invited to see her temporary refuge, she is immensely relieved and is preparing to cook some elaborate meals, which she was not permitted to do in the shelter. She wants to give me some tea and cookies.
So I think I have enough money to take care of her needs and get her into a new apartment. Our only mission here is to make up the shortfall created when her husband went into rehab. Then we will move along to another case. The refugees are in great need now.
Hawah is strong and resourceful, she can take care of herself, and she knows she needs to.
She just needs some help getting started.
Good for Ali for being there when she desperately need him and finding a place for her to go. Thanks so much for your support. I’m not entirely certain what Hawah will need, but I think we can help her find a good place to live.
