Well I have been having lots of phone calls,emails, and so on regarding Diva and this whole thing so I thought I would take some time to write some of it here and then post.
For those unfamiliar with the story, in 2004 I searched pen pal sites to find someone in Iraq to communicate with and I found Diva’s name and wrote to her…she replied with much eagerness to have me as her pen pal and so we began our exchanges through email and instant messaging…
In January of this year she received notice that she had been accepted for the Fullbright scholarship program and would be coming to the US to study and as an aside she has extremely high scores on her tests.
Recently she revealed that she would be attending the University of Kansas at lawrence and then on July 16th left Baghdad for the US by way of Jordan, Chicago O’Hare, then to Phoenix and shuttle to University Of Arizona and Tucson for orientation before travelling on to Kansas on Sunday Aug. 5th.
Manee g has been on the case in Tucson being of much help to her and then Kansas and Ghostdancer stepped up to help on the Kansas end.
I am hoping that both Kansas and Manee will add something of their part of story to this diary.
Now for some updates on Diva.
First of all I spoke to her for a long time last night and consoled her through her tears of frustrations, fears and also joy. She is terribly afraid to think she will have to go back to Iraq, with no relatives there and no male relatives to be sure it will not be a good place for a single female alone.
Her mother is going for sure now to syria in one month and says she is never going back to Iraq. She also reported that the internet cafe where Diva always went to was bombed and she was witness to all the mangled bodies and cannot get it out of her head.
Ok, I want to go ahead and get this diary posted and will add more to comments later.
Thanks to Scribe for creating a new anachronism for us Compassion in Action or the new CIA.
Here is link to previous diary on this subject. Thanks to all of you who have written about this, who have contacted me and expressed desire to help, we shall need lots of that I think.
the rest of us can do…
“Compassion in Action”…I like that… 🙂
Well scribe, my long term plans for this is to address the Fullbright thing, the inequities in Iraq students vs students from other countries…there are serious restrictions for them, cannot bring family members, can only stay 2 years, cannot work, others can, and so on…I thing that is something that would make a good group project.
Also there will be financial and other needs that Diva will have along the way, as she will be limited if she cannot work. So I am trying to work out the best way for donations of both cash and usable items that could be mailed to her, but right now I do not know exactly the needs she will have, in the interim if any want to donate anything contact either me or Kansas I would say for now.
Another Kansas person has offered to help and I will shortly contact him/her to try to coordinate efforts.
Then after that in due time I will begin to work on finding a way for her to either stay here or at least not have to go to Iraq.
Any suggestions, ideas or comments from one and all will be most welcome.
I have no doubts that this community will step up and do whatever they can to help.
Hugs
Shirl
it’s a good thing we have several members from Kansas. I look forward to hearing her thoughts on what we should do in Iraq.
Yes it is a good thing we have members in K. and good thing we have this site of great and wonderful people thanks to you Booman for the site once again, could not do this without the old BT that’s for sure.
I hope to ask her soon more about what she thinks for Iraq, but trying not to pile too much on her right now as I am sure she is suffering PTSD and really wish I could find a counselor in that area to help her with that.
I spoke to her last night, we’re planning to meet up either tonight or tomorrow. She owes me a dinner at McDonalds 🙂
On Sunday she had visitors from Phoenix come down and take her around the city. She enjoyed seeing the different sites around town and was surprised at how much more there was to Tucson than the University. She loves the mountains and was able to get an intimate view of the desert greenery at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum on Saturday as part of the program.
She is so thankful for the help she is receiving and expressed her wishes that there was more of that in her home country. I could sense she was abit emotional last night but she didn’t break down. I just reassured her that she had plenty of friends to be there as she continues her transition. This three week period has been rough for her, and she is nervous about the next stage that begins on Saturday in Kansas. I know she’ll be in good hands with the warm hearts that are being shared from this community.
I join Diane in asking for some help to register a complaint with the scholarship committee for the way they have been treated. I’ll see about drafting something after talking to Diva more, but it’s clear that something should be done. I also plan to contact the Univ. of Arizona for their lack of sensitivity to this group of bright minds from around the world.
Peace – it’s built with kindness and “compassion in action”
thanks to you manee, for being you and helping so much with this.
Seeing America through Dena’s eyes is quite eye opening, but bottom line it has made me remember what this country is all about and this is it, Compassion in Action, one of the great traditions of the country that has not been broken.
Ihave been trying to explain to her the current condition of congress, admin, et. al, and told her we were trying to replenish congress with Dems, that will work to change things, but will still have to work around the Rep, still in power. That made her sad that America has come to this and she asked how did it happen, and if it happened here, what can the rest of the world expect, let alone Iraq. I told her the easiest answer was corruption, too many others to mention at that time.
I hope that you will write something about the Fullbright as I think you are the perfect one to do that.
Hugs mannee and be sure when next you meet Diva to give her hug from me.
I will do what I can to help and also get the word out. I would love to interview Diva and some of the people helping her for a segment on my podcast with a link to where people can make donations to help also.
Thanks refinish, I will put that on my list and do remind me if I forget and I think that will have to be after she settles in Kansas..
Sounds great. I know right now is hectic for everyone but I think we can get her some help and I would love to do anything I can.
.
What is the saying, by saving one soul you save the world!
Wonderful Diane, to have Diva safe in Kansas. This must be a culture shock for her, but more so she will be torn when she realizes how fortunate she is and perhaps worry to death about the security of close friends and relatives in Baghdad.
● Diaries About Diva
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
Thanks Oui, and thanks for the links to other diaries, I always forget you can do it with a search rather than going through all the diaries…lol.
Yes she will be torn about relatives in Iraq, it is hard for her right now especially till her mom gets out of there.
Diane – what would you think about Diva setting up a blog with a Paypal button for donations. I would love to read her writings and to have a chance to help.
The New CIA – perfect!
Alice, thanks for the suggestion, she does have a blog right now, but I don’t know if she can get paypal, she would have to have a bank account and that will take some time…Meanwhile if any want to help out currently they can go to my web site VB, link on sig line and make a donation there.
Here is link to her blog, but she hasn’t written on it since 2005…
here
In another thread (on asylum), Duke1676 asked if I could help Diva. Here was my response in that thread–
I have seen the Diva diaries. Perhaps I missed it, but I didn’t see details of what her asylum claim might be, what social group she is a part of, etc.
Whether Shia, Sunni, Kurd, or other ethnicity, I think it’s objectively true that she would face a risk of persecution from groups the government of Iraq is unable or unwilling to control. Thus, I personally think she is eligible for asylum. However, if she is eligible for asylum, then the entire population of most of the Middle East is also eligible for asylum, and the U.S. government will not stand for that. In short, since she fears for her life, it can’t hurt her to try to get asylum. I think her chances are low, but she might get lucky.
I don’t handle asylum cases these days (haven’t done one since 1995, and the law has changed in the meantime). I’d recommend that she go to ILW.COM (Immigration Lawyers on the Web) and use the Find A Lawyer feature to identify lawyers who handle asylum cases.
Incidentally, she has another serious legal problem that people have not mentioned. She has come as a Fulbright scholar. That means she is on a J-1 visa subject to a two-year foreign residence requirement, meaning that at the end of her studies in J-1 status she MUST return to Iraq for two years. There are some ways to get a waiver of that requirement, but it is VERY VERY VERY difficult if one has U.S. government funding such as Fulbright. Asylum is just about the only form of immigration relief that trumps the J-1 foreign residence requirement–which is another good reason to try it.
Let me give a concrete example. Even if she fell in love and married a native born U.S. citizen, she could NOT get a green card and stay in the U.S. until she first went back to IRAQ for two years–unless she could get a special waiver, which is very expensive, very time-consuming, and almost ALWAYS turned down if there is Fulbright funding. Thus, the Fulbright scholarship that seems such a blessing now may end up feeling like a big curse.
Thanks Arminius, for your imput, I think her biggest claim would be that she is alone without a male relative which in Iraq is very difficult. Her mother, and only direct blood relative will not even be there in 2 years.
When asked her ethnicity, she said she does not even know. Seems most people there are products of mixed marriages.
Well you have given plenty of food for thought and I appreciate that.
Diane, The fact that she would be a single female in Iraq is a humanitarian factor of great weight. But it has nothing to do with the legal grounds for asylum (unless perhaps one could make the novel legal argument that single females in a Muslim society were an oppressed social group). — But I do think she should talk to some lawyers about possibly filing for asylum!
Thank Arminius, how about a single Christian woman, just checking….btw from what I understand under the law there now females cannot travel or do anything without a males permission…she has been using a relative by marriage extensions for that as I have already stated she has no blood males.
Anyway, I am wondering at what point you think she should attempt this, now or later…I am not sure what scrutiny she is under, would any actions of that type endanger her staying here should she embark on that course…would you happen to know that.
Thanks again for your expertise.
She needs to start consulting with lawyers immediately. There are lots of lawyers who would be happy to give a free consultation. She should also contact Catholic Charities, which has a very large and well organized free immigration law services section called CLINIC. Nowadays there is a short deadline on filing for asylum after arrival in the United States–I think it’s one year, but as I said I haven’t practiced in this area in a long time. It’s not safe to wait toward the end of that period, because it can take an awful lot of time to develop a good case, and it can take months to find a suitable lawyer. Good luck.
Sorry to be so slow to report in!
The housing front looks more complicated today, but I have faith that I’ll find something that works okay. The home where we hoped she could stay is not going to work after all, so tomorrow I’ll be searching for some other place.
If that doesn’t produce anything tomorrow, then on Friday I’ll go to Lawrence and find a motel where I can feel okay about putting her. No way I’m leaving her somewhere if I don’t know the people or haven’t personally checked it out.
We may end up having to put her in a motel, after all, but you can be sure we will not desert her! I’ll keep going up, and enlisting pals, to help her out as needed.
ManEe, it’s so good of you to help her down there. I think all of this is really hard on a frightened young woman. And Diane, she tells me via email that you have been her guardian angel. Can you feel your wings sprouting? 🙂
Oh Kansas, too bad about the situation you had set up for her, I thought it would be perfect. Have you been able to contact Ghostdancer at all.
If she has to go to motel, I think that might be a thing we could help her out with. since I don’t really know a better way at this point donations can be made on my site Village Blue, I have an amazon pay block there, and all donated would go to Diva. Other than that I guess people interested in helping could send checks or money orders to you Kansas and then you would be able to have access to the cash sooner than I would through paypal.
So those are my suggestion to those who have asked how they can help. I also have had offers of goods, etc., which I guess will have to wait for an address to send and a list of her needs…we will have better idea of that in a week or two.
Any better ideas anyone???? Your input is helping an awful lot and I thank so much all who have commented and made their offers.
As to the wings, dunno, I thought they had been clipped long ago,….lol.
Diane, in gdw’s e address, is there a space between ghostdancers and way?
it’s an underline_ like that and I sent you email.
I should have said I see lots of wings sprouting around these parts and yours are fluffing out very nicely, actually they are quite beautiful as are others on this site and you know who you are…lol.
lol! (fluffy)
I’m so excited, Diane. You know the people I wrote you about tonight? They want Diva to stay with them! They’ll be out of town Sat and Sun, but she can stay with them starting on Monday. They thanked ME for “letting” them help her. They will be PERFECT.
So now I only have to work on Sat. and Sun. night and they are going to call me tomorrow morning before they leave town and give me some contacts & numbers. I think we can solve this by sundown, lol.
Wheee!
Wow, wow, wow, you are great and there’s another email I sent…..so even if she has to stay one or two days in a motel that’s better than the whole time.
Yipeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hugssssss
I just thought of something else she could use, calling cards, that would be great, she has been depending on them to get all of her things taken care of not to mention calling her mom. Those could be mailed to Kansas I guess, so it would be good to email her for address.
This it what keeps hope alive for me. Compassion in Action. I am so happy to see true good samaritans like Diane and Ghostdancer and Manny and Kansas step up. The Universe is shining on you my friends.
Diane, it was so great to talk to you the other night. As soon as I get back from Vegas this weekend I will donate to your account over at VB. Your wings were never clipped darlin”. We all have always seen them. Right Shirl?
Right you are Leezy! And hers are so big and luminous that you just can’t miss them, even if she tried to hide them. . .[very big grins]
I love the phone card idea but think we could extend that even more with other gift cards. All the stores and CC companies have them now. You can usually buy them at any grocery store or the stores themselves. What do you think? Then once she is settled we can mail them directly to her?
Hi, Aloha. Would that be like sending cash, though?
Do you mean because of the risk sending it through the mail? If so you have a good point.
Yeah, that’s what I was wondering about.
Diane, I think we may need to know more about her finances, if you can give us the info without invading her privacy. Forgive me if you already wrote about this and I missed it.
What sources of funds does she currently have, and are they sufficient to support her?
Will she have any money coming from home?
Does the Fulbright organization give her an allowance or any spending money at all?
Does/can/will she get financial aid from other sources?
I believe you told us that she will not be allowed to hold a job? (That’s so weird. I wonder what the rationale for that could be.)
No money coming from home, she has been supporting her mom for years now,(her mom is tradition Iraqi and has never worked) I do think there is one relative that has a tiny bit of money which must be where support for her mom will come. This same relative helped her to get her previous education and supported both of them till Diva graduated and then Diva took over all their support.
She will receive $1300.oo per mo. from the scholarship,with that she has to pay all her expenses, and I would assume her books and so on. I am hopeful that her tuition is paid by Fullbright, can’t imagine it would not be.
The other day Diva asked an advisor who was sent down from NY and she said off the record, that she could work under the counter, for cash, but should not tell her that. All other Fullbrighters are allowed to work, bring their families over with them, stay for three years instead of 2 and so on, great deal of discrimination for Iraqi’s.
I think she will be able to subsist on the stipend she receives, but don’t think there will be money for extras. Her rent will be $400.00 per mo. and she pays telephone and electricity.
Getting aid from other sources I do not know, actually Kansas I am hoping you can look over some of her papers and see what they say as Diva is translating all of this and is so unfamiliar with the technicalities…
Also Kansas, I think you can help us see her needs once she arrives and settles in, since you will be our eyes there.
Gift cards can be purchased online and sent to a U.S. recipient – AmEx does this for example.
I’d be interested in donating phone cards, or whatever else is needed. Thanks to all involved for the joint effort.
Diva asks me “WHAT kind of place is this booman tribune, that they would be so kind and offer so much help”, I say, “well we are like a big community and we are mostly all friends, and we help each other if there is a need or anyone if there is a need that we can fill.”
Then she says “I think what they need in Iraq is a Booman Tribune, maybe then people would develop empathy and love for their fellow man and help each other and solve this mess.”
She and her mother cannot get over the fact that strangers would be willing to help her, they just do not know this kind of thing in Iraq at all.
I couldn’t decide whether to put that statement in this diary or the one on Iraq, maybe I’ll put it on both.
This made me cry.
I was wondering if Diva will need a computer and all the addendum. If memory serves, LookingUp has some connection to folks who refurbish computers.
I appreciate your letting us know how we can help.
Thanks Tampopo. Yes she will need a computer, she is given $500.00 to purchase one, so I am hoping that she will have some assistance to getting the best deal for her money, also accessories for computer, like printer maybe something that members could help with.
I will keep note of Lookingup and hope that I can keep all of this in my head so I do not forget, one thing or another. I hope you all will remind me if I seem to have forgotten an offer or some such thing.
I wish I could describe in words how Diva sounds when she said the preceeding about Booman, her voice and words have such a musical quality about them, that it is quite delightful to hear, so she will have all kinds of tones in her voice when making a statement like “What kind of place is this booman tribune”, even the way she says booman tribune is quite musical. So in her voice you can hear the sadness from whence she has come and the joy of what she sees from Booman and it’s all quite beautiful as is all of the compassion in action, quite a lovely thing to watch.
I should probably get crackin’ on the computer stuff early next week, don’t you think? One thing I probably should do is see if KU offers any help in that regard. If not, then I know of a really honest guy here in KC who sells used ‘puters and she and I can confer with him.
Oh, wow, this is weird. As I was writing this, my KU son called to talk about computers. He tells me there are hundreds of computers available free to students at the library. They’re wireless, too, so she can take them to any corner of the library. Even thought he has his own laptop, he uses the library computers constantly. So she won’t even need one right away unless it’s important to her to have one at home.
Okay, I gotta run. Later!
That is great news about the computers at school. I am sure she will want one at home as she is very like all of us, using computer constantly at home…she had her own in Iraq and used that to communicate with me until she moved to a place that had no land line phone, then she had to go to internet.
Speaking of phone, she probably needs to contact phone company there to get phone in the works for there, but maybe she can do that in the week she will be there before she moves into apartment.
Don’t worry about all that utility stuff. We’ll help her through it.
She has a place to stay on Sat. and Sun. nights! I’ve been out all day and while I was gone the bookstore owner who was originally going to host Dena got on the phone and talked to a woman at the International
Student and Scholar Center who already knew about Dena and who had, I believe, communicated with her several times. If I understood my phone message correctly this woman has arranged for Dena to have a dorm room at a nominal cost for those two nights. Oh, whew. I know which dorm it is, as my son stayed there his first semester. It is nothing special, but she has a room.
Damn it’s going back to 100 degrees this weekend, maybe, but I guess she’s used to worse than that?
brought it with her, or Madre Nature intends to flood the city, but we have had a lot of rain for the past three weeks. It has been fairly cool here (upper 80s/lower 90s) Not sure what the weather is like for her back home, I’ll ask this evening at dinner.
Glad to hear she has arrangments now for the weekend. You rawk, kansas!
YOU rawk! In fact, you rawk so much we’ll make you an honorary Rock Chalk Jayhawk.
Total changes! Email me and give me your phone number and I’ll call you. My email is not sending right now.
What I’ve learned is. . .
l. She already has a dorm room to stay in for the entire time until her apartment is available. Apparently, she has always had this, but I guess she didn’t realize it.
It sounds as if it is all organized and has always been so at this end, but for some reason this info never got through to Diva.
I think we should talk on the phone!
Email sent
It was really nice to talk to you for the first time!
I think we’re under control here at Mission Central. All’s well. And I’m going to go watch a Grey’s Anatomy rerun.
I’m so glad to read that she and the other students aren’t being left to their own devices. Thank goodness for you kansas, and Diane and other helping froggies.