We were at the First Unitarian Church of Portland, on 1011 SW 12th Avenue in downtown Portland. A lovely town....
Adele Kubein (her story is shared in the book) spoke about her daughter's service as an Oregon National Guardswoman.
Maxine Fookson, a pediatric nurse practitioner, spoke of her service with No More Victims and shared photos and story of Mustafa. Then 2 years old, he was critically wounded in the bombardment of Fallujah. He came to Portland for prosthetic leg, colostomy, and ended up losing a kidney too. He is back in his village now and his longterm prognosis is "unknown."
Dr. Omar Obeid spoke of the physical wounds he received with an assassination attempt that blew up his vehicle. His two daughters have also been killed and his third daughter is suffering from renal failure. For the time being, he is Portland and part of the Iraqi community there.
Dr. Baher Butti is a solid pillar of this community in Portland bringing vital psychological care to the community and working to bridge cultural misconceptions between diverse groups. He arrived in Portland from Iraq after death threats. His wife and daughter, Ula, joined him last month in Portland.
Thank you to Katie Heald of AFSC and Tess Beistel for their very hard work on this event. (Tess, by the way, was part of the Human Faces of War project that contacted me when I returned from Iraq. They subsequently showed variations of Anwar Jeward's story in art work. Thank you for that work, Tess.)
See pix from the event
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