1st Day at the Hospital- Hevi and Shkar
July 23, 2008 by bobby · Leave a Comment
12 year old Hevi and 6 year old Shkar have arrived safely in Israel and are undergoing the initial tests and preparations for their heart surgeries. These kids and their parents have been through a lot in just a few days: leaving their families in Iraq, travelling all the way to Israel, adjusting to a very foreign place and then undergoing lots of medical tests. This is has been a long process for many just to get to this point. There is a mixed sense of relief and yet apprehension to finally be at the hospital and be one step closer to the actual heart surgery. And yet Hevi and Shkar both had smiles to show after their blood tests, injections and echocardiograms. These kids are so resilient! What a privilege for us to be part of this journey with them.
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Cody’s Going Away Podcast
July 19, 2008 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment
Unfortunately, we just lost Cody back to America. Cody is now the U.S. Director for PLC and this is our last podcast together before he boarded the plane. In this podcast we talk about some of the partnerships with bands we’ve got going right now, the Preemptive Love Art Exhibition here in Iraq, and some other nuggets.
Enjoy! Push play below…
ToOpenYourEyes.com
July 17, 2008 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment
Some freelance friends of our have started their journal to Iraq in earnest to document our life and work here… check out toopenyoureyes.com for more information. And watch the video below…
Internship: Finding the Art Gallery
July 16, 2008 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment
PLC Gives $12,500
July 14, 2008 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment
Thanks to a series of summer fundraising events in the States, the friends of PLC have raised at least $12,500 for heart surgeries to go to Iraqi children. Money is still coming in, but we’ve applied the first round to the sweet kids below who will now be able to travel next week to heart surgery outside of Iraq thanks to the kind kids and their parents who gave this summer so that others could live!
Shkar, 6 years old
Shkar’s case is very urgent and has recently caused him a great deal of difficulty breathing. His surgery is long-overdue, but doctors believe that he can still have a normal life. We plan for Shkar to be in surgery July 2008.
Hevi, 12 years old
Hevi has a condition called Tetralogy of Fallot, a combination of four anatomical abnormalities. Thankfully, doctors believe she can be fully healed and lead a ‘new life.’ We plan for her to be in surgery July 2008.
Shanaw, 12 years old
Shanaw’s case is very urgent. Though it’s difficult to see under the face-painting you see in the picture, Shanaw’s skin is very blue due to a severe valvular obstruction in her heart. Doctors believe she can be cured through surgery and go on to a healthy, normal life. Shanaw has received all her funding now and we plan for her to be in surgery July 2008.
Kale, 8 years old
Kale’s family keeps calling to remind our partnering organization that their little girl still needs help. Her favorite subject in second grade is English… We’re eager to follow up with her when she returns from her surgery. You can write notes to Kale in simple English here. Kale has received all her funding now and we plan for her to be in surgery July 2008.
Sarah, 8 years old
The cardiologist at the March 2008 screening found that the heart of this frail little girl can be fully restored through surgery. Her internal organs are all on the wrong side (situs inversus) - sometimes surgeons will use a mirror to operate in this case! We hope to have her in surgery in July.
PLC Gives $5,000 for Two Surgeries
July 10, 2008 by Jeremy · 1 Comment
Your purchases and donations continue to spur on and encourage local Iraqi NGOs to stand beside us as we help their children. In conjunction with Kurdistan Save the Children we’ve just sent another $5,000 Iraqi heart surgeries outside the country!
Kale, 12 years old
Kale has cerebral palsy but constantly has a huge smile. It is wonderful to see her mom put so much concern into her daughter in a culture where the mentally challenged are often abandoned. Kale had a large hole, 2.5 centimeters, in her upper ventricle. We helped send Kale to surgery on February 20th but she is only now receiving the money she needed for her surgery. With our partnering organization, we went ahead and pushed her surgery through and Kale returned to Iraq on May 6, 2008 with a healthy heart.
Sarah, 8 years old
The cardiologist at the March 2008 screening found that the heart of this frail little girl can be fully restored through surgery. Her internal organs are all on the wrong side (situs inversus) - sometimes surgeons will use a mirror to operate in this case! We hope to have her in surgery in July.
Happy Birthday, BSSL! Meet PLC!
July 7, 2008 by Jeremy · 1 Comment
On July 7th, 2007 an amazing thing happened… a guy named Chad was the first of hundreds and hundreds of compassionate people to purchase the as-yet-unknown shoe called Klash. Chad and hundreds like him have given us the encouragement and confidence we’ve needed to keep selling Klash and using the proceeds to fund heart surgeries for Iraqi kids.
And as cliche as this is about to sound, lots of people thought we were crazy. Most thought it was a three week project that we would outgrow. Some thought it was a silly failure to comprehend the real needs of Iraqis. Indeed, at times we probably thought so ourselves. But as one month has turned to twelve, there is no denying the magnetic force behind the simplicity of our message.
The Preemptive Love Coalition, via the “Buy Shoes. Save Lives.” program, has now sent 13 kids to surgery, funding them at various stages along the way to the tune of $36,500. What a pretty tune! We raised and gave away an additional $16,000 for pre-op heart screenings and have money waiting for 6-7 kids that we plan on sending later this month.In 12 months we’ve invested nearly $22,000 into local klash-making economies, plus tens of thousands more into the broader economy as a by-product of operating our business. We’ve sold $33,000 of Klash across the US, UK, Europe, Africa and Australia, and have seen such a range of creativity exercised in helping these children that we sometimes just sit astounded at all you do!
One of the major developments of the past year is the way in which we’ve reorganized under the banner of The Preemptive Love Coalition. After 4 months of selling shoes to save lives we started realizing that we had more to say that “buy shoes. save lives.” We wanted to say “Love your enemies. Do good to those who do bad to you.” In a region where “tit for tat” is the predominant peacemaking method, we wanted to lead out with another option.
Our “this for that” model is as simple as encouraging those who would be with us to find something in their current environment and use it (”this”) in the service of the thousands and thousands of Iraqi who are waiting in a line for life-saving heart surgeries outside the country (”that”).”This for that” is also about giving back love for hate; kindness for oppression; truth for perceptions.
As we look forward to the coming year we envision moving deeper into the hurt of Iraq and working among the more oppressed and excluded groups of people. We want them to know that there is an entire movement of people in America and around the world who will not abide the ongoing retaliatory methods of “peacemaking” in the region. We are those who use all manner of “this” for that - for peace; for kindness; for truth.
We are The Preemptive Love Coalition. Thanks for being with us!
Jeremy, Cody, Michelle, Ruth, Scott, Bobby
Audrey, Angel, Chris, Colby, Jesse, Peter (THE INTERNS)
963 Coffee Saves Little Iraqi Lives!
July 6, 2008 by Jeremy · 2 Comments
Our friends over at 963 Coffee facilitate the fair trade of coffee so that you get your daily Joe and the farmers get their fair share of that $5 cup of caffeine. Instead of beans on the dollar, they get a fair working wage, good working conditions, the right to organize themselves into unions, and a host of other benefits not afforded by other coffee companies.
In addition to what is already a great product, 963 Coffee has set up an affiliate program through which all of your purchases made by linking from PLC will go into an account with the Preemptive Love Coalition name on it. So on top of everything else, buying coffee will now fund heart surgeries for Iraqi kids, too!
We get 40% of sales from the store through this affiliate program. If you buy 10 bags of coffee for your office at $10/each, children in Iraq will receive $40 of your purchase. If you are an addict, we recommend the Monthly Obsession (like a subscription to coffee!). It only takes 63 friends at 2 bags of coffee per month, that would be $6,000 to children in Iraq in one year alone! That’s an entire heart surgery funded strictly by drinking coffee!
So forgo your POPULAR COFFEE CHAIN and drink some 963 Coffee instead.
NOTE: The coffee in question here sells in 12 oz. packages.
Six PLC Interns Arrive in Iraq
July 3, 2008 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment
Wonder of wonders, six collegiate interns have just arrived in Iraq to work with all of us at The Preemptive Love Coalition this summer.
They have been an amazing, eager, sharp group of students and we are thrilled to see the ways in which they help us increase the success of the Buy Shoes. Save Lives. program as well as the infrastructural things we are addressing here in the country.
Plan on seeing more of the interns in coming days as they blog, vlog, podcast, and make much noise on Facebook, MySpace, etc. After all, that’s what college students do best.
Interested in a Winter 2008/09 Internship or the Summer 2009 Internship? Click here!
This Made Me Smile
July 2, 2008 by Jeremy · 1 Comment
CLICK HERE and read the post…
Then check the comments about 11 comments down.
JAC
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CONGENITAL HEART DISEASE IN IRAQ
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