Dear Friends and Supporters, 

 

As many of you know, we continue to face a stymied Iraqi bureaucracy to break ground on the skate park in Baghdad. We continue to push, and with our partners, Make Life Skate Life, taking the lead on negotiations and further fundraising, we feel confident this effort will come to fruition. 

In the meantime, however, we have come to know Jameel through Kali's time working with doctors in Fallujah. As you may know many of those doctors have been documenting and treating an epidemic of birth defects linked to war pollution from the U.S.-led invasion and occupation. Jameel (pseudonym means "Beautiful") suffers a serious congenital heart malformation. He is 2 years old and lives in Fallujah with his parents. 

 

In Iraq, curable congenital heart malformations are often deadly, since the healthcare infrastructure has been destroyed by US wars. Kids like Jameel have to leave the country for surgeries in India or Turkey, where facilities and doctors are able to save their lives. Such surgeries are cost prohibitive for most. 

 

Given Jameel’s condition, we feel his urgent need for corrective heart surgery supersedes the ongoing skate park efforts. We would like to reallocate funds to his surgery, which can take place at the Baskent University Hospital in Turkey within weeks. 

 

The total corrective surgery costs $10,000, in addition to his flight and recovery. We assume most of you will be happy to see your contribution reallocated for this purpose. However, if you prefer that your donation remain allocated to the skate park, please let us know by February 1. 

 

There is no need to contact us unless you do NOT want funds allocated to Jameel’s surgery. We look forward to sharing an update on Jameel’s status as we organize his surgery and facilitate his recovery. 

 

 

Best, 

 

The Islah Reparations Team