Saw a story on CNN about a 9 year old girl being flown out of Iraq for surgery, which reminded me of a friend I used to work with in South Carolina who was trying to arrange just such a thing (the girl was severely injured and her little brother killed while playing near their home in Iraq), but never dreamed it would turn out to be the same little girl or my friend!!! Talk about blowing my socks off! It took a few years and a LOT of frustration and anxiety (not knowing at times if the girl was even still alive because of lack of communications and conditions there, and never being able to get packages to the girl because family and relatives were afraid of being singled out as collaborators and being murdered!), but seems to have paid off as the girl and her father made it safely to South Carolina. But, despite the surgery (she's had both legs amputated and has more surgery to go), she's apparently still very upbeat, jokes around and has been a real trooper. Do a Google on Salee Allawe, but a very neat story with hopefully a happy ending.
