Yesterday, I received the first email from my dear friend Diva in Iraq in six months and first of all I have to say I am exceedingly thankful that she is still alive. But there is more, finally she will be traveling to the US to attend school with a Fullbright Scholarship.
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The school that has been selected for her will be the University of Kansas at Lawrence, a fact she is none to happy about as she preferred the North East Coast schools, but she had no choice in the matter. In any case she is glad to have the chance to get out of there at least for a year and to study for her Masters.
She will be leaving around the 13th or 14th of July and will first go to Tucson, Ar. to attend 3 weeks of preparatory school before heading to Kansas. I am hoping that Maneegee, will consider meeting up with her while she is there.
It would be so lovely if she could fly to Ca. while in Arizona but that may be a little to much to hope for.
She reports to me that the situation there is horrible at best, with only 2 hours electricity per day and they are just sweltering, not to mention the whole other mess there.Meanwhile I am just beside myself with joy at this good news and I ask the powers of the Universe to deliver her safely to the airport down that long dangerous road and then to the shores of the grand old USA.
Well I just had to share this good news with all of you who have followed this story for the past year.
After reading Brenda Stewarts, Riverbend article yesterday, I really wanted to share this with everyone, and hope you will join me in wishing her a safe journey.
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Wonderful escape Diane, how are her family and close friends doing in the turbulence of occupation and sectarian violence. Is security still hopeless?
The Role Iran Is Planning in the Country – Baghdad Burning
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
Security is hopeless, her Mom who has no close family members will have the hardest time staying there, but there is no other choice. She didn’t say too much about the whole situation there other than how bad it was, but hopefully when she gets here she will tell more about her life there. One can only imagine what it’s like to live there on a daily basis.
I can tell you I was shocked that she was alive, since I had not heard from her for months until last week when I got an Instant message with just hello on it and then this message yesterday. I just thought no way could she have survived and tried to resign myself to it.
Now I worry about the last six weeks and then the airport ride in a country where it is dangerous to even go to the market.
Hmmm…how close is Lawrence KS to our own “kansas” here on BooTrib? Maybe at least close enough that Diva will have a place to call home during school breaks…I remember many of the international students going home with their roommates for holidays back when I was in school (we had a large number of students from Japan); staying on campus alone can be the pits…
I was wondering that myself, I looked up Lawrence on the map and it seems to be pretty far from where Kansas lives according to the Frapr Map.
I wonder if there are any readers of this site that do live in Lawrence.
That’s great Diane. I wish her all the best and hope you will get a chance to see her sometime.
I am pleased that Diva is safe and about to visit the US. I do hope you will get to meet her.
I have to admit that I had not heard about the insurgents in California – or was that Arizona? ;-0
Canberra I just figured out what you mean by the insurgent situation, lol, that’s pretty funny, I was doing an edit and thought I put it in a different location….
Yes she did, she found out late last summer or fall, I diaried it then but you may have missed it, or at least I think I did.
You can’t believe what she had to go through just to apply and comply with requirements, just to get to the green zone was a chore in itself, taxi driver did not want to take her or to be seen taking her, she had to hire 2, one to take her halfway…if any of the applicants were even one second late at the bus location to go into green zone, they were just out of luck…she had a very high score on her placement test, can’t remember what it was but something llike only 30 below the highest possible.
I’d say she is a very exceptional person, all the way around.
just to get into the green zone. I shared it with my husband too. May the unity that we all share be enough to heal us from the horrible tragedy that we have all experienced at the hands of the Vile, Murdering, Corrupt, Disgustingly Greedy and Grossly Abusive!
Prairie Village, I beleive that is where she stated she lives. I live about 20 miles South of Lawrence and I am sure my wife and children would be happy to have her as our guest on whatever free time she might have while going to KU. There is also a very nice meditative sanctuary about 10 miles south of Lawrence called the Light Center. They do a great deal of healing work and have put at least two trained hospice workers, into South Africa to help with the orphans who have lost their parents due to the HIV epidemic in Southern Africa. Diane, please let you friend know she is welcome to contact me and my family if she needs any assistance or if we can help make her stay here in Kansas a little brighter. The good news is that Lawrence is a bright blue spot in a very red state, she will be surprised by its liberalism in this very conservative state. You can contact me at ghostdancers_way(at)hot mail (dot) com.
Ghostdancer, oh wow, thanks so much for the offer, I will email you soon and see what we can work out. I won’t hear too much from her until she gets here I suspect, although she said she would try to call me before she leaves Iraq….to use internet currently she has to go to a cafe, so that would not be too frequently I expect…she has no land phone line at her house.
Thanks again Ghost and I will contact you soon. Thanks for the info about KSU, I will pass that on to her.