The Great Eight (Taban)
February 12, 2009 by erin · Leave a Comment
After only 2 weeks in Iraq, working with families who’s children need heart surgeries to grow into adulthood, it was an exciting day to come face to face with two of these families and their children. Both families, whose children are 11 and 13 years old have known since birth that their children have serious heart conditions.
It was wonderful to be the bearer of such great news and tell Taban’s family, who has been waiting for 13 years to find a way to help cure their daughter, that she will be able to leave for surgery on Sunday. In just a few short days she will be on her way to Turkey where she will receive the heart surgery she desperately needs. I have been very touched by the kindness and devotion of these families to do whatever it takes to help their children get the surgeries they need. They are willing to entrust their children, their futures, and even invest their hope in us, The Preemptive Love Coalition.
As we shared several glasses of tea with them, they took the time to welcome me to their country and their village and thank me for leaving my home in America to come and help their children. Although these two children urgently need surgery, the Doctor reviewing their cases is very hopeful that their surgeries will be successful.
Not all of the children we have seen this week have as much hope for a full recovery, or even that they are eligible to receive surgery. And even in the midst of being the potential bearer of wonderful or terrible news for these families, I would not choose to be anywhere else in the world than here in Iraq sharing in the joy,
sorrow, hope, pain, and healing of these children and their families.
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Kurdistan Save the Children Comes through in the Clutch!
February 11, 2009 by scott · Leave a Comment
We’ve been getting ready to send a group of Iraqi kids to life-saving heart surgeries in Turkey next week. After crunching the numbers, we thought that we could stretch and send six kids this month. But we had eight who desperately needed urgent surgeries.
Enter our local partner, Kurdistan Save the Children.
Normally, KSC helps contribute to the funding of a couple of kids each month. But they really stepped up to the plate and quadrupled their commitment for February.
Instead of helping two kids this month, they’re helping eight, contributing $2,500 towards each of their surgeries!
That’s $20,000 (or doo defter, as we like to say here in Sulaymaniyah)!
That means that instead of sending just six kids, we can now send eight over the next week, probably saving two extra lives in the process.
It also means that we’re seeing our vision of local solutions to local problems become a reality.
We know that the only hope for sustainable development is when people are empowered and encouraged to tackle the challenges they face together. That’s why we ask for a child’s extended family to contribute something to the cost of their surgery: we don’t want our generosity to rob them of their dignity or their responsibility. Instead, we want to strengthen families as a constructive element of civil society here in Iraq.
And it’s why we’re increasingly looking to form partnerships with Iraqi NGOs and businesses to support their efforts to care for the lives of their own people.
This month, we’re seeing it happen. Local contributions will cover almost half the cost of these eight surgeries. We’ve still got a long way to go, but it’s great to see how far we’ve come.
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)
Covering costs of past surgeries
May 20, 2008 by bobby · Leave a Comment
BSSL was just given a great opportunity to be able to cover the outstanding costs of 3 heart surgeries that had been done back in February and March. The bills for these surgeries were still awaiting payment and we were thrilled to be able to cover them! So meet Sarah, Shayan and Najeeba! All 3 kids are already back home in Iraq and enjoying the new life their healing hearts have brought them.
Here’s a recap on these little guys:
Sarah- 4 years old- Had surgery on February 20th. Sarah returned to Iraq on April 30, 2008 with a healthy heart. We saw pictures of her in the airport before she returned to Iraq playing “doctor” for a number of strangers. She’s been through the ringer and come out a healthy, happy little girl!
Shayan- 1 year old- We helped send Shayan to surgery on February 20th. He and his mother returned to Iraq on March 26, 2008 with an amazingly powerful little heart. Before he left the guesthouse to return home he was seen chasing balloons around the room and laughing big belly laughs… true signs of a healthy heart!
Najeeba- 4 years old- Najeeba successfully underwent surgery on February 20th. Sarah returned to Iraq on March 26, 2008 with a thriving heart. At first Najeeba had difficulty understanding why her mother would take her away from her home and let the doctors open her heart. But as she healed and was able to enjoy being a kid again, it seemed she was able to grasp the degree to which this surgery has improved and, in fact, saved her life.
$16k and 21 Children to Heart Screening
March 12, 2008 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment
Buy Shoes. Save Lives., Rayalla Organization, and Kurdistan Save the Children and other local partners recently raised and distributed over $16,000 to 21 children and their families so they could travel to Amman, Jordan for heart screening.
Some of these children will likely go straight to surgery due to the severity of their case. Others will be placed in line until funds are available to fund their surgeries - whether through donations or the revenues from our online store.
Aria & Rebar Now Fully Funded!
December 31, 2007 by Jeremy · 2 Comments
Aria, 2 years old from Northern Iraq
Doctors at the October screening in Jordan found that little Aria has the features of Down Syndrome and six fingers on his right hand, as well as a heart defect commonly found in Down children. He can overcome the heart defect with surgery which should allow him to grow into adulthood. Aria arrived safely in Israel today and is awaiting surgery!
Rebar, 3 years old from Northern Iraq
Rebar was born with a large hole between the ventricles of his heart. An Israeli cardiologist who saw him in October in Jordan put him down for “intervention in near future” due to the risk that developing pulmonary hypertension could leave him inoperable. He has reached Jordan and is waiting for transfer across the river into Israel.
Click here to see other kids we’ve helped in their journey.
Aras Arrives in Amman, Jordan!
November 28, 2007 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment
A few weeks ago Buy Shoes. Save Lives. took stock of our assets, our debts, our inventory, and our projected future needs and determined that it was time to give a significant chunk of our money to a child named Aras from the Kurdish city of Halabja in Iraq.
Halabja now stands as an emblem of suffering for the Kurdish people; the site of Saddam Hussein’s March 16, 1988 gas attack against Kurds in which 5,000 died in one day.
It felt significant and symbolic to make our first child the child of the city whose scars are carried on today by children who suffer heart disease - nearly 20 years later - because of the gas attacks of that day.
We were nine and younger in 1988, and yet we feel our hands are dirty and that we am somehow complicit in the problems and pains of Aras’ people. $5,000 cannot repair decades of hurt - and decades to come - but as far as feelings go, it felt good to give our money away to Aras and his family.
Today Cody escorted a very nervous Aras and his mother to the airport, where they flew for the first time, and landed many delayed hours later in Amman, Jordan. They were greeted by one of the many partners in this endeavor, Shevet Achim. Aras should be headed on to Israel later this week for surgery.
We are nearly speechless at how amazing this has been. And we’re fairly certain we’ve received new hearts in this process, as well.
Delshad Now Fully Funded!
November 19, 2007 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment
Delshad, 5 years old
Delshad has a hole between the ventricles of his heart, and was singled out by Israeli doctors at the October screening in Jordan as a child who needs surgery in the near future, before pulmonary hypertension would leave him inoperable. His visa for travel has already been approved, and thanks to your continued advocacy and purchases, BSSL contributed almost 40% of the necessary funds and he will be headed to surgery this week! Sometimes we cannot believe this is actually working!
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CONGENITAL HEART DISEASE IN IRAQ
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