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.