I want to thank you for keeping the lights on for Nabiha and Qusay and their family. Over the last week, I’ve given them $900 to pay the bills and late fees owed their electric company, which was threatening to cut off their electricity.
They did not understand late fees.
Their family fled Iraq after a bomb injured Nabiha, shattered Qusay’s memory and blinded each of their two daughters in one eye. Qusay has been struggling to find work because of the damage to his memory, Nahiba works as a college cook and is laid off every summer.
They are lovely and gracious people.
Life in America is often a struggle for refugees when they first come here, they have lost everything and are given precious little support. They often need a bit of help to get to the open field that is America.
I appreciate your help. Our work with the refugees continues, we are moving on to others in need. You can help by sending your contribution in any amount to the Gus Fund, c/o Jon Katz. P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816 or via Paypal, [email protected]. And thanks.
Good morning, I am happy to introduce you to Nahiba and Gusay, two good, honest family people caught in a dreadful storm. I am hope we can lift them to a safer and brighter place.
Nabiha and Gusay and their five children need some assistance. I hope to give them some, I already have. We are having a great week in the doing good department, but I’m like a shark, I keep swimming.
The National Grid electric company is threatening to turn off their electricity if they don’t pay $900 in past due bills and late fees and another $600 in payments for their flight from Iraq and then to Turkey, and then to a refugee camp, and then to America.
My wish is to settle those debts so they can move forward, the are the loveliest and warmest people.
They will make very good Americans.
They are just as nice as their faces suggest and their troubles are no fault of their own. They have suffered greatly and without a trace of complaint or bitterness.
It was about seven years ago that Nabiha and Gusay were leaving a wedding outside of Baghdad when an explosive device planted to kill them and their five children exploded. The blast shattered their family and altered their lives.
Gusay was a policemen, Nabiha was a cook. The bomb was meant for Gusay’s brother, a journalist and an almost exact look alike. After the blast, Gusay’s brother begged him to flee, he said the terrorists would come after him and his family again.
But they could not flee for many months. Every one the left side of the car was severely injured – Nabiha and her daughters, Bashre, who was eleven, Gedir, who was seven, and Narjs, who was one.
Their son Amir was not seriously injured.
Nabiha’s shoulder was shattered, her back injured she was in the hospital for nearly seven months. Gusay still grapples with memory loss. Nabina needs monthly cortisone shots for her back and other treatment for her shoulder.
Gedir and Narjs each lost the sight of one eye.
The couple are angels, really, two charming, loving and warm people. I actually met Nahiba when she was working as a cook at RISSE, the refugee and immigrant center in Albany. Whenever I came to take a photo, she would rush out with food and sweets for me. Ali knows Nabina well and says she is very deserving of assistance.
The children there loved her.
After the family recovered, they did flee to Istanbul, and then to a U.N. refugee camp for a year. Because of their injuries from the bomb, officials chose them to get to America, both for medical help and safety.
Gusay looks for work almost every day, but because of his memory problems, no one will hire him. Nabiha works as a cook at Sienna college but is laid off every Spring and Summer, when the school is out of session. During that time, the family has no regular income.
Amir is training to be an Albany City policeman, he wants to be a police officer like his father.
Like so many refugees, this family began piling up some debt they had no means of paying easily.
When refugees come to America, they have to replay the agencies that fly them to America.
The flights for seven people from Turkey to Albany costs thousands of dollars, and Nabiha has been paying the refugee settlement agency back at the rate of $123 a month.
At the same time, they were unable to pay their electric bills in one summer.
The bills were always paid when Nahiba was working, but then the electric company began charging late fees, which they could not pay, and when the electric bills due reached $900, Nahiba came to Ali for help and Ali came to me. And me to you, the chain system of the Army Of Good.
These two are the classic refugee families it is a pleasure to help.
They are independent, hard-working, loving and proud, the last thing they want from anyone is to be helped. But America offers a rough road to refugees who by definition, have nothing. I was shocked to learnthat they have to pay for their flights here and re-pay the aid they got in their first months in America.
I looked over their electric bills, I thought the late fees were outrageous and their power was set to be cut off in a week. Like many other refugees, they didn’t quite understand late fees, how much they grew, and how fast. As we keep learning, once people get caught in the poverty net, it is difficult to get out. So I’ d like to get them out. Beyond that, they can take care of themselves.
I met with Gusay and Nabiha and Emir Monday afternoon in their clean and bright apartment near downtown Albany, on the fifth floor of an old brick apartment building. Nahiba kept bring me coffee and cookies, I finally explained to her that I was a diabetic and couldn’t eat them.
They went over their bills to with me to make sure I knew they were telling me the truth – I told them I trusted them completely, I didn’t need to see the bills. But I did look at them.
The total amount of money they owed is $1,600, $923 in overdue electric bills and about $700 in payments left from their flight to America.
I wrote them a check immediately for $500 and before going to Albany, I called their electric company, and asked their policy on re-paying this kind of debt.
They said they were always willing to work with their customers as long as they could pay something and if Nabiha could contact them and pay some of the bill, they could re-structure their payments and keep the power on.
They understand (and I understand) it might take awhile to raise all of this money, the Army Of Good has been busy lately. I will keep at it and chip away at the debt if necessary. I might have enough money to make a second payment to the family Thursday in Albany.
I would like to help them as much as I can. I intend to give them another check for $400 so they could get the late fees and electric bills and government off of their back, that’s like owing money on a credit card, it’s hard to pay it back.
Then, if I can, I’d like to knock down the flight debt, get them to an open field. In September, Nabiha returns to her job at Siena College and Gusay hopes he will get someone to hire him. He is very determined, but his memory issues are serious.
Ali and I are looking for a possible employer for him, he is determined to work.
I feel as if this can be a great week for us, getting Kelly Patrick out of her tent and hopefully, getting Nahiba and Gusy out of debt. Those would be some laurels to ponder for a bit.
If you wish, you can contribute to their recovery by sending a contribution to me, c/o The Gus Fund, Jon Katz, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N .Y., 12816. The checks should be made out to me and I will put them in a special account. You can also contribute via Paypal, [email protected].
If you wish to help them, you can mark the payments Nahiba.
