October 27, 2007
Amman, Jordan
Dear Friends,
It is Saturday morning, and I just hung up the telephone. “Please pray for him” the mother asked me, referring to her son. Here in Amman from Baghdad, he is in the operating room as I write you, in an attempt to save his right eye. I will call him Fadi, though that is not his real name. Fadi already lost his lower right leg to a suicide bomb while going in a taxi to his classes at the university. Stopped at a checkpoint—Fadi was sitting next to the driver—a car pulled up alongside them and exploded. Scars from glass and metal wounds are visible on the whole right side of Fadi’s body.
I visited with this mother and Fadi a couple of days ago. As incredible as it seems given the tragic circumstances, Fadi was able to complete his studies. Just weeks ago he graduated from the University in Baghdad with a degree in Engineering.
As I sat with them, I asked him what his thoughts and dreams were now. I would love to see Fadi leave the war zone, perhaps get a Master’s degree in Engineering in the states or anywhere else for that matter. But more and more I realize how often my good intentions are colored by feelings of responsibility and guilt, of wanting to “fix” what I feel my country has broken. Lives and limbs. Maybe Fadi’s ideas, I though, are quite different from mine.
He seemed shy when he told me that he was considering work as an interpreter for the Americans. His parents understandably are strongly opposed to this as it would place him in great danger. He told me what Iraqi translators earn. I believe it was $1,000 a month. In comparison, if I understood correctly, security personnel for the Americans earn $1,000 a day. Fadi’s family has exhausted any savings or earnings to pay for his ongoing operations and trips to Amman for necessary surgery.
Like any new college graduate, Fadi wants to enter the working force and begin to pull his own weight. It seems like such a simple, straightforward desire, unless that young person is Iraqi, and moreover lives in Baghdad. The mother was told by Caritas here in Amman, that they only cover operations done at one specific hospital, and that hospital doesn’t perform the delicate eye surgery Fadi requires.
As our conversation continued, I learned that Fadi recently went to the Green zone to see about a new prosthesis that he needs for his leg. He was told that they are servicing only Americans now with prostheses. It was becoming clear to me why Fadi would even consider working for the Americans.
The time with Fadi and his mother affected me greatly. As I looked across the room at this mild-mannered and soft spoken young fellow, his affected eye was drooping and only partially open. Although he has only 25% vision in his right eye, his inner eye sees clearly. It is these eyes with which we need to see. We can learn so much from Fadi about vision, about clarity, about personal strength, stamina and faith.
I am planning to visit with another family later today that was rejected for resettlement to the states. I have been listening to many accounts from Iraqis who have recently been refused resettlement on the basis of their one final interview with USCIS (US Citizenship and Immigration Services) people here from the states. Despite passing through exhaustive interviews by UNHCR and IOM (International Organization for Migration), it is this final interview which will decide their fate.
For the officer carrying out the interview, I suspect it is just one of many interviews. And I suspect they have been given instructions as to how many they can accept. The others will be rejected and given a form letter with one of the categories checked off. The box which seems most often checked is the one labeled “credibility.” Once outside the building, it is not uncommon for the person receiving such a rejection letter to break down and weep inconsolably, a reminder to us that these are not “cases,” but human lives with dreams and needs not unlike our own. The need for a safe place to live, the ability to work in order to sustain themselves and their families, to put their children in school.
Iraqis have taken hope by Condoleeza Rice and others in our Administration who say “We want to help them,” that we will take 1,000 a month to the states for resettlement over the next year. Let us be clear about the extent of our “generosity.” If we were even to meet the goal of 12,000, which is highly suspect, what is this in the face of over 2 million “refugees” in Jordan and Syria alone, not to mention over 2 million internally displaced Iraqis within their country?
I too have been given hope by someone from the US Embassy here in Amman, that I will be able to meet with someone from the State Department who is coming at the end of this month. I was advised the other day by email that the person has not yet arrived. My list of questions for that person is growing. Disturbing questions that demand answers. Human dignity and respect call out for answers.
I will keep you posted, but right now I greet you with very much love,
Cathy Breen
