We now have enough money to help Hawah. I am grateful.
I am glad I finally persuaded Hawah, a Libyan refugee, to be photographed last week. People who send money should see the faces of the people they are helping.
She is fine with it now, and she loved posing with Ali.It made her feel safer.
Over the weekend, the church homeless shelter where she had to live last week threatened to have her children taken away because one of them was late for curfew.
He was late because he was too embarrassed for his new public school friends to see that he was living in a homeless shelter, so he walked around for hours until he was sure he wouldn’t be seen. She was terrified.
The family was evicted from their apartment after their father, Hassan, was diagnosed with spinal cancer.
He is now in a coma in a rehab facility, the doctors say they do not expect him to recover. City social service workers reduced her rent subsidy by $150 so they could give the rehab center some monthly payments.
She was getting up at 4 a.m. every morning to collect bottles and cans in the street. She made $5 or $6 a day.
She didn’t have the extra money after the subsidy cut, so they locked her out of her apartment with all of her belongings inside. She had no choice but to go to a shelter, which she described as the “filthiest place on the earth.”
Hawah could not understand the filth, she had a beautiful and spotless house in Libya, she said, her husband Hassan had a good job as a large crane operator for 14 years, until they had to flee the country during the civil war of 2011. Every trace of their former life is gone.
Ali managed to get her out of the shelter and into a friend’s apartment until we can find her her own place.
This morning, I received checks for $1,000 to help Hawah.
We now have enough money to do what we hoped to do, to give her enough money so she can make up the rent difference for one year. I admit I was a little concerned about this effort because it was so important to get her out of there, she was unraveling at the idea that her children could be taken away. She has lost enough.
If any additional money comes in, I will make sure it goes to other refugee projects, and will write about its use on the blog, as I always do. I’m going to see Hawah tomorrow, Tuesday, I’ll bring her some money and talk about her new apartment search. And meet a Syrian refugee who lost her son on her flight to America and her entire family in the Syrian civil war.
She needs help also, I’ll explain after I meet her. Thank you Army Of Good, you never fail. And you are..well…good.
We have enough money now to help Hawah, once she is established, she will be on her own, there are others who need help urgently. If you wish to support this program, you can send a contribution to The Gus Fund, Jon Katz, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816, or via Paypal, [email protected]. Please mention “refugees” with your payment, so I can make sure the money goes where you wish it to go.
This will have a happy ending.