July 14th, 2008
Thanks to a series of summer fundraising events in the States, the friends of PLC have raised at least $12,500 for heart surgeries to go to Iraqi children. Money is still coming in, but we’ve applied the first round to the sweet kids below who will now be able to travel next week to heart surgery outside of Iraq thanks to the kind kids and their parents who gave this summer so that others could live!
Shkar, 6 years old
Shkar’s case is very urgent and has recently caused him a great deal of difficulty breathing. His surgery is long-overdue, but doctors believe that he can still have a normal life. We plan for Shkar to be in surgery July 2008.
Hevi, 12 years old
Hevi has a condition called Tetralogy of Fallot, a combination of four anatomical abnormalities. Thankfully, doctors believe she can be fully healed and lead a ‘new life.’ We plan for her to be in surgery July 2008.
Shanaw, 12 years old
Shanaw’s case is very urgent. Though it’s difficult to see under the face-painting you see in the picture, Shanaw’s skin is very blue due to a severe valvular obstruction in her heart. Doctors believe she can be cured through surgery and go on to a healthy, normal life. Shanaw has received all her funding now and we plan for her to be in surgery July 2008.
Kale, 8 years old
Kale’s family keeps calling to remind our partnering organization that their little girl still needs help. Her favorite subject in second grade is English… We’re eager to follow up with her when she returns from her surgery. You can write notes to Kale in simple English here. Kale has received all her funding now and we plan for her to be in surgery July 2008.
Sarah, 8 years old
The cardiologist at the March 2008 screening found that the heart of this frail little girl can be fully restored through surgery. Her internal organs are all on the wrong side (situs inversus) - sometimes surgeons will use a mirror to operate in this case! We hope to have her in surgery in July.
July 10th, 2008
Your purchases and donations continue to spur on and encourage local Iraqi NGOs to stand beside us as we help their children. In conjunction with Kurdistan Save the Children we’ve just sent another $5,000 Iraqi heart surgeries outside the country!
Kale, 12 years old
Kale has cerebral palsy but constantly has a huge smile. It is wonderful to see her mom put so much concern into her daughter in a culture where the mentally challenged are often abandoned. Kale had a large hole, 2.5 centimeters, in her upper ventricle. We helped send Kale to surgery on February 20th but she is only now receiving the money she needed for her surgery. With our partnering organization, we went ahead and pushed her surgery through and Kale returned to Iraq on May 6, 2008 with a healthy heart.
Sarah, 8 years old
The cardiologist at the March 2008 screening found that the heart of this frail little girl can be fully restored through surgery. Her internal organs are all on the wrong side (situs inversus) - sometimes surgeons will use a mirror to operate in this case! We hope to have her in surgery in July.
July 7th, 2008
On July 7th, 2007 an amazing thing happened… a guy named Chad was the first of hundreds and hundreds of compassionate people to purchase the as-yet-unknown shoe called Klash. Chad and hundreds like him have given us the encouragement and confidence we’ve needed to keep selling Klash and using the proceeds to fund heart surgeries for Iraqi kids.
And as cliche as this is about to sound, lots of people thought we were crazy. Most thought it was a three week project that we would outgrow. Some thought it was a silly failure to comprehend the real needs of Iraqis. Indeed, at times we probably thought so ourselves. But as one month has turned to twelve, there is no denying the magnetic force behind the simplicity of our message.
The Preemptive Love Coalition, via the “Buy Shoes. Save Lives.” program, has now sent 13 kids to surgery, funding them at various stages along the way to the tune of $36,500. What a pretty tune! We raised and gave away an additional $16,000 for pre-op heart screenings and have money waiting for 6-7 kids that we plan on sending later this month.In 12 months we’ve invested nearly $22,000 into local klash-making economies, plus tens of thousands more into the broader economy as a by-product of operating our business. We’ve sold $33,000 of Klash across the US, UK, Europe, Africa and Australia, and have seen such a range of creativity exercised in helping these children that we sometimes just sit astounded at all you do!
One of the major developments of the past year is the way in which we’ve reorganized under the banner of The Preemptive Love Coalition. After 4 months of selling shoes to save lives we started realizing that we had more to say that “buy shoes. save lives.” We wanted to say “Love your enemies. Do good to those who do bad to you.” In a region where “tit for tat” is the predominant peacemaking method, we wanted to lead out with another option.
Our “this for that” model is as simple as encouraging those who would be with us to find something in their current environment and use it (”this”) in the service of the thousands and thousands of Iraqi who are waiting in a line for life-saving heart surgeries outside the country (”that”).”This for that” is also about giving back love for hate; kindness for oppression; truth for perceptions.
As we look forward to the coming year we envision moving deeper into the hurt of Iraq and working among the more oppressed and excluded groups of people. We want them to know that there is an entire movement of people in America and around the world who will not abide the ongoing retaliatory methods of “peacemaking” in the region. We are those who use all manner of “this” for that - for peace; for kindness; for truth.
We are The Preemptive Love Coalition. Thanks for being with us!
Jeremy, Cody, Michelle, Ruth, Scott, Bobby
Audrey, Angel, Chris, Colby, Jesse, Peter (THE INTERNS)
May 20th, 2008
BSSL was just given a great opportunity to be able to cover the outstanding costs of 3 heart surgeries that had been done back in February and March. The bills for these surgeries were still awaiting payment and we were thrilled to be able to cover them! So meet Sarah, Shayan and Najeeba! All 3 kids are already back home in Iraq and enjoying the new life their healing hearts have brought them.
Here’s a recap on these little guys:
Sarah- 4 years old- Had surgery on February 20th. Sarah returned to Iraq on April 30, 2008 with a healthy heart. We saw pictures of her in the airport before she returned to Iraq playing “doctor” for a number of strangers. She’s been through the ringer and come out a healthy, happy little girl!
Shayan- 1 year old- We helped send Shayan to surgery on February 20th. He and his mother returned to Iraq on March 26, 2008 with an amazingly powerful little heart. Before he left the guesthouse to return home he was seen chasing balloons around the room and laughing big belly laughs… true signs of a healthy heart!
Najeeba- 4 years old- Najeeba successfully underwent surgery on February 20th. Sarah returned to Iraq on March 26, 2008 with a thriving heart. At first Najeeba had difficulty understanding why her mother would take her away from her home and let the doctors open her heart. But as she healed and was able to enjoy being a kid again, it seemed she was able to grasp the degree to which this surgery has improved and, in fact, saved her life.
March 12th, 2008
Buy Shoes. Save Lives., Rayalla Organization, and Kurdistan Save the Children and other local partners recently raised and distributed over $16,000 to 21 children and their families so they could travel to Amman, Jordan for heart screening.
Some of these children will likely go straight to surgery due to the severity of their case. Others will be placed in line until funds are available to fund their surgeries - whether through donations or the revenues from our online store.
View Cart
