Youssif's Christmas Cheer: The Best Medicine

When he was four years old, Youssif was doused with gasoline and set on fire by jihadi savages in Iraq. As we blogged last July, Youssif and his family have since been brought to the United States, where generous donations of time and money have given the little boy an increasingly promising second chance at happiness. Multiple operations are saving his badly burned face, slowly but surely bringing back to the surface the child, and the childhood, that had been so terribly scarred, seemingly beyond hope.

His mother, Zaineb, stands at the back, ...tears rolling down her face. "I am so proud of him," she says. "It reminds me of what he was like in Iraq when he used to sing in kindergarten. I felt for a moment that none of this had happened. My son was back, without fear, strong."
...
Today Youssif plays freely, without fear. "Let's race" he shouts to his friend Brandon as the two boys dash across the schoolyard. A couple of minutes later the two are playfully jostling over a rubber ball. Youssif shrieks and bursts into laughter as the two play catch.
"It's like this weight has been lifted off of me, off of him," his father, Wissam, says. "It's like we've left this dark, depressing state where we were consumed by Youssif and the attack that had happened. You know, it's so hard to see a child, my child, go through something like this. When I see him like this, I feel like he's coming back."
...
Youssif has undergone more than a dozen surgeries. Much of the thick scar tissue around his eyes, mouth and nose -- left by his treatment in Baghdad -- has been removed. He currently has yet another tissue expander in his left cheek, intended to stretch out "good skin" to be used to replace his scar tissue.
...
He's thriving at school, loving the first grade. "He's amazing," his teacher Mario Daley says. "I work with children of all levels of ability, and Youssif, with what he's gone through, his motivation, what he produces is fantastic. He just tries so hard."
…
Before the attack, Zaineb says, Youssif wanted to be a doctor. Now he says "I want to be a doctor to help burned Iraqi children."

Very moving video accompanying the story, here.

Seeing Youssif at school, at home, at play, the normalcy of it all, reaffirms the miraculous power that comes in the wake of a positive attitude. A realist may dispute the technical accuracy of the old saying that applauds Laughter as the Best Medicine; for a romantic like myself, Youssif’s playful giggles and guffaws renew my faith in that lesson, along with one more: that hope is the best trigger for laughter.

Healing The Scars Of An Iraqi Child

Children have a lot to learn about life, but they can also offer a lot to teach. I posted recently about the 7-year old who tried to take a bullet for her mother, and an 11-year old who did much to save his neighbors from burning to death, as two examples.

With great thanks to Vicki, we can learn from another remarkable young person, 6-year old Youssif. Despite living through a nightmare few of us dare to try to imagine, Youssif's faith in a hopeful future has much to teach us older folks prone to despair... providing we have the humility to admit we can learn from a child.

You may already have been following the story; I hadn't, therefore Vicki's thorough coverage (over 20 updates!) made for some intense, emotional reading. Here are the highlights to an incredible story of the healing process underway for a small boy, his family and our own capacity to renew our faith in humanity's ability to choose to do Good.

The story began in January 2007, but the world didn't hear about it until August of that year:

Five-year-old Youssif is scarred for life, his once beautiful smile turned into a grotesquely disfigured face -- the face of a horrifying act by masked men. They grabbed him on a January day outside his central Baghdad home, doused him with gas and set him ablaze.

It's an act incomprehensibly savage, even by Iraq's standards today.
…
"They dumped gasoline, burned me, and ran," Youssif told CNN, pointing down the street with his scarred hands where his attackers fled.
…
Even things like eating have become a chore. His face contorts when he tries to shovel rice into his mouth, carefully angling the spoon and then using his fingers to push the little grains through lips he can no longer fully open.

After the story aired on US television, Americans by the thousands asked, as they do so often: "What can we do to help?"

Shortly after Youssif's story aired Wednesday, the Children's Burn Foundation -- a nonprofit organization based in Sherman Oaks, California, that provides support for burn victims locally, nationally and internationally -- agreed to pay for the transportation for Youssif and his family to come to the United States and to set up a fund for donations.
…

Surgeries will be performed by Dr. Peter Grossman, a plastic surgeon with the affiliated Grossman Burn Center who is donating his services for Youssif's cause.

Donations amounting to over three hundred thousand dollars were quickly collected, enough to allow the family to travel to the US in order to undergo the corrective surgery... arriving on September 11, 2007.

They had traveled more than 7,500 miles to get help for their son, from war-torn central Baghdad to coastal Los Angeles. It marked the first time the family had ever left their homeland, let alone flown on a plane.
"Oh my God, it's so green. Am I in heaven?" Youssif's mother, Zainab, said after arriving in Chicago before the family flew on to Los Angeles where Youssif will be treated.

The healing process seemed to begin just by checking in to their two-bedroom, two-bath apartment in the city of angels..:

There was a television, toys everywhere, and a balcony. A crib sat in the kids' bedroom and the kitchen even had a high-chair so that Youssif's sister would be able to eat with them at the table. For the first time in a long time, the family laughed out of pure joy.
…
Standing on the apartment's balcony, Youssif's father turned to Barbara Friedman, executive director of the Children's Burn Foundation.
"You see America on television, but you never imagine or dream that you will ever be here." He paused, tears in his eyes.
"It's more than paradise."

The family soon got to meet the doctor supervising the series of necessary surgeries, Dr. Peter Grossman:

Perhaps haunted by the pain he suffered in Baghdad's hospitals, Youssif hiccupped back sobs as his father lifted him onto the examination table.
…
"We're going to do everything we can to move forward and to do a good job," he said.

The boy's mother nodded solemnly. "I just want my son's smile back," she told the doctor.

Who knows how many chapters like the following day at the beach remain unreported every day throughout North America. If only more individuals around the world (and within America, for that matter) could see this side to the American people:

Frightened and excited, the 5-year-old Iraqi boy shrieked and laughed as his father lifted him to safety as each wave crashed around their legs. It was the first time either of them had seen the ocean. [They are approached by someone who recognized the family from seeing their story on television.] The "voice" belonged to a member of the Valley Peak church group from nearby Chatsworth -- having a father and child day at the beach.

"We'd like to pray for Youssif and his family. Can you ask if they will accept this?"

The reply: "Of course," said Youssif's mother, Zainab.

The group of Christian fathers and children surrounded the boy and his dad, falling to their knees and locking arms. Youssif and his father stood at the center of the circle holding hands. "They are going to need strength and patience, and God, just put your hand on little Youssif and his family," one of them said, head bowed in prayer. ...

Other beachgoers witnessed the scene, joined in and dropped to their knees -- more than 30 people in all. …

Watching the scene, the outpouring of warmth from total strangers, Zainab wept, tears running down her face."I was overcome with emotion," she said later. "Here in America, people were moved by him. Why not in Iraq?"

The stories on the various surgical operations (12 operations in the past year, with more to come) have some harrowing moments, such as the time complications from one operation led to young Youssif's sheets becoming soaked in blood. But still there was progress.

By Saturday he was bouncing around his room. "I ate," he announced proudly. Although his little head was tightly wrapped in bandages, he was able to open his mouth much farther than before.
"Look, Daddy, my mouth is open! I can fit the whole fork into it and I can take big bites!" he said. ...
Youssif -- who was grabbed outside his home by masked men, doused in gas and set on fire January 15 -- remained ecstatic over little things, like being able to stick his tongue out again.
"I can see all my teeth! I can stick my tongue out all the way!" he said to his dad while waiting to leave the hospital.

As the year went on, we can start to see the amazing capacity for renewal of faith that the family dynamic can provide, as parent teaches child, who then teaches parent, how to survive with grace:

[A]lthough Youssif's parents are exceedingly grateful to be in America and receive the best medical care, one realization that doctors warned about is truly beginning to set in -- Youssif's face will never be the same as it once was.
"Sometimes when he sleeps I just look at him and cry. He used to be so beautiful when he slept," his mother, Zaineb, says. ...
Youssif's parents are coping with what every parent of a child burn survivor struggles with. "They want their son to return to the way he was, and it's hard to know and accept that he won't," says Keely Quinn, the program director with the Children's Burn Foundation who has been helping the family adjust.

…
Youssif's parents are emotionally and mentally spent. They even admit their son has shown more strength throughout this ordeal than they have. To them, it seems their son is winning the battle to overcome his mental and emotional injuries, and he astonishingly seems to take the discomfort of recovery and multiple surgeries in stride.
…
"Youssif is an amazing survivor and tough little guy," Quinn says. "Compared to his parents, at 5 years old, he doesn't have the ability to see down the road how this will affect him. He just knows he will be 'fixed.' His parents have to deal with much more complex issues -- watching their son suffer, their guilt over the attack, and wondering what the next day will bring."

Which brings us to the latest update, from last week, on Youssif starting school:

Youssif began attending an American school [in january], one year to the day after he was so savagely attacked in Baghdad. In a recent letter to those who have helped his son, Youssif's father described the anniversary as a "very hard day" to endure but one that also brought joy.
"But this year, it was the day for another miracle, Youssif's first day of kindergarten. It was a very happy day," Youssif's father said.
…
Youssif is adjusting well to school, able to write out the alphabet and count to 12 without hesitation. He always finishes with an accomplished sigh, wide eyes and a smile so big, it's as if he is making up for the 10 months he was not able to smile.
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"The kids love Youssif. They get more excited than he does when he learns a new word in English, and they brag about it for hours," the mother of a classmate says.
…
"Now, Youssif eats anything he wants, because he can open and close his mouth," his father said in the letter. "I have begun to see my son's lively spirit return. The surgeries have removed more than just external scars, they are also beginning to remove his internal scars."

A few weeks ago we went to the park and Youssif rode on the merry-go-round. Every time he passed by, he shrieked and laughed and waved wildly to me.

I thought my heart would burst with happiness."

We rarely appreciate how much we have to be grateful for, but we can at least have our eyes opened to the length of the checklist, courtesy of a small boy whose ability to laugh after such tears should do much to teach us how to do the same, as we learn how to live with faith in a positive future. As we read of young Youssif take pleasure in the simple act of eating, and hear of the comfort his parents derive from the simple sight of him smiling, we can re-learn what it means to taste life, and to be grateful for the bounty of blessings we have too long taken for granted.

To make a donation to the fund established for Youssif by the Children’s burn foundation, go here.

[Thanks again to Vicki for her vigilant updating of this story, for otherwise I might never have heard about it.]

Compare and contrast:

1. Sudan Christians "Fleeing Genocide" Reach Israel:

Dozens of Sudanese Christian refugees, most of them children, have entered Israel after fleeing "a genocide campaign" carried out by forces linked to Sudan's "Islamist regime," the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ) said Friday, June 15.

The ICEJ, an evangelical organization supporting the Jewish state with aid and advocacy, said authorities are struggling to accommodate 31 Sudanese Christians, including 17 children and 14 adults, who entered the country late Thursday, June 14, via the Israeli resort town of Eilat with assistance from local Bedouins.

They were expected to staying in Bedouin tents for the weekend.

ICEJ Executive Director Malcolm Hedding told BosNewsLife that authorities asked his group "to assume responsibility over their housing and care for two weeks until they can be accommodated" among several Israeli collective communities known as 'kibbutzim'.

SUDANESE INFLUX

"An increasing number of Sudanese refugees fleeing Darfur and other conflict zones have been entering Israel through Egypt in recent weeks. Due to their United Nations refugee status, Israel is obligated to care for them," he explained.

2. Iraq and Gaza: Facing Al Qaeda:

The remnant Christians of Iraq and Gaza have survived war and civil strife but they may not survive al Qaeda. Al Qaeda is not interested in nationalism: its goal is total religious cleansing and complete Islamisation.

IRAQ: AL QAEDA PURGING BAGHDAD

In Dora, the ancient Christian quarter of Baghdad, churches have been ordered to remove their crosses or be burned. Over recent months most churches have done so but St John the Baptist Chaldean Church and the Church of St George were resistant so militants climbed up and ripped off the crosses themselves. A fatwa has been issued forbidding Christians to wear the cross or make any religious gesture. On the weekend of 18 April, militants issued an ultimatum to the Christian residents of the Mualimien neighbourhood, Dora district: after 24 hours they would have to convert to Islam or die. Six Christian families fled and are being cared for in a church elsewhere. Whilst they were allowed to flee they were not permitted to take any of their belongings.

GAZA: AL QAEDA PURGING GAZA

Security specialists warned years ago that al Qaeda had infiltrated Gaza. Though denied by Arafat there is little doubt about it now. In August 2005 al Qaeda exploited the security vacuum created by the Israeli Defence Force’s disengagement and withdrawal from Gaza, increasing its presence with men and arms. In early March 2007 Islamist Hamas entered into a government of national unity with Fatah and agreed to ‘respect’ international agreements. Al Qaeda deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahiri responded by slamming Hamas, accusing it of falling ‘into the swamp of surrender’ by abandoning its ideology and ’selling out’ to Israel and the US for the sake of securing seats in government. Since then, al Qaeda-linked Wahhabist jihadis have dramatically escalated their effort in purging and Islamising Gaza. They have assassinated three Hamas leaders and are targeting everything they deem ‘un-Islamic’.

On the night of 15 April Gaza’s only Christian bookshop was bombed (see RLP 425). On Saturday night 21 April the American International School was bombed. On Sunday 6 May the UN-administered Omariya School in Rafah was attacked in broad daylight by some 70 white-robed Wahhabi militants from a group calling itself ‘Salafiyeen’. They tried to prevent the school’s sports carnival, deeming it ‘un-Islamic’. When security forces challenged them the militants responded with grenades and machine guns, killing one and wounding six. The group had previously warned the school about its ‘un-Islamic’ activities such as teaching boys and girls together and permitting music and dance, as well as the involvement of UNRWA director John Ging, a ‘Christian’ and ‘anti-Islam infidel’.

3. Dichter: Israel will allow aid into Gaza | Jerusalem Post:

Fearful of a looming humanitarian disaster, Israel will allow food and other basic supplies into the Gaza Strip following Hamas's takeover of the coastal area, a senior government minister said Saturday.

"Our consideration is the humanitarian issue. Allowing merchandise through Karni in order to prevent hunger in Gaza is what will guide Israel to allow merchandise," Public Security Minister Avi Dichter told Channel 2.

4. Palestinians Flee to Israel:

According to the international left and the paleo-right, Israel is a fascist apartheid state, a brutal occupier, universally despised by the oppressed Palestinian people.

So where do the oppressed Palestinians look for sanctuary, when the terrorist government they elected begins the inevitable slaughter?

Palestinians run as they try to cross to the Israel side at the Erez Crossing, in the northern Gaza Strip, Saturday, June 16, 2007. Dozens of Palestinians converged on the Erez crossing with Israel on Saturday, trying to leave the Gaza Strip following Hamas’ takeover. At the same time, hundreds of people looted police positions on the Palestinian side of Erez, and at one point Israeli troops fired in the air to keep the crowd at bay. The looters walked off with furniture and scrap metal. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)

Usually we here at Covenant Zone try to avoid cut and paste blogging without adding any commentary of our own. But sometimes patterns in the avalanche of news stories we peruse seem to be evident enough and just need to be highlighted through a simple juxtaposition of stories. (HT: Michael T.)

Welcoming Home Heroes

We tend to fill our blog with bad news, as it is important to know the depths of the evil we face in the world today. With truth there can be wisdom, and from that wisdom we shall somehow arrive at the solutions we need to win through to victory against the forces of true evil that are arranged against us.
Every once in a while it's equally important to reflect on the good news that exists as well, for there is still much good in the world. It makes it easier to renew the struggle against evil, to acknowledge the good we fight for, and the humility to be grateful for it. With gratitude comes strength, and the conviction that the good must endure. Such are the seeds for greatness.

Especially in the United States of America. Neighbors, once again you set the standard for greatness, for the rest of us to live up to.

This video isn't very long, but it's long enough to show, yet again, the real source of America's greatness: the moral strength of the Americans who live there.

May God always Bless America with such heroes as Bert Brady.