Dear friends,
I wrote you on Sept. 22 about Delevan, the 17-year-old Kurdish girl from the north of Iraq who has somehow survived since birth with a congenital heart defect. We hoped she could come to Israel for surgery, but our volunteers in Amman and Jerusalem were having trouble with the expenses of keeping this route open. Thank God, several responded to the need, and the picture above shows Delevan last evening approaching passport control in Jordan!
Delevan and her father had been cared for in Jordan for three days by our country coordinator Dirk (pictured below right as well as last picture below with their youngest child) and his wife Manuela while waiting for visas to Israel. After persuading the Jordanian authorities that these Iraqis really would be allowed to enter Israel, it was time to cross the Jordan River (by bus) into the promised land.
Brian from our Jerusalem office was with them from there. His report follows:
Delevan was weak and her walk was slow. We carried their bags to immigration and then boarded a bus over to Israel. We were greeted by a Dutch film crew [recording Delevan’s story] who alighted the bus and continued to the terminal. Delevan's father Mohsein was upbeat and talking away. Unfortunately Delevan spoke little Arabic, so our communication was limited. But her smile and demeanor was beautifully hopeful.
Questioning ensued and they took our passports. We talked with Yossi [an Israeli official] about not stamping them, but this item was forgotten by the clerk. The clerk knew she had made a huge mistake and everyone was upset with her. Subsequently we found out that she will be tried in court and she may lose her job and so then we felt very bad for her. On the other hand I was aware of the life-threatening situation this mistake will place upon Delevan and her father. We'll be thinking of what is best to do upon their return.
Somehow there was a "hoser tium" (lack of coordination/permission) between Sheik Hussein bridge and Shaul at the Israeli embassy in Jordan so someone above Yossi called for a extra "Aleph Aleph" search: they searched through every item in the luggage from the three of us and it was a bit of a pain, but we made it through in pretty good spirits.
One of the Dutch cameraman gave Delevan a juice drink while she rested on a bench. Dlevan's father and I paced around talking with different border guards. It turned out that one of the border guards was an Israeli Bedouin from the Jabri tribe which was originally from Iraq; another female border guards was Kurdish and while she was unable to communicate with Delevan, showed her a little extra care. The head female border guard had seen Laven [another child] from Iraq on Channel 2 that weekend and so was explaining to another top official about the program. We started to get to know the guards a bit and in talking to them about the purpose of the trip, Mohsein exclaimed, "I've left five children back home, just for the health of my daughter Delevan." The Bedouin Israeli sent Mohsein off with blessings for a successful surgery.
After a thorough search of our belongings and some extra questioning, we were on our way to Jerusalem to the Shevet Achim house. Even though Mohsein discouraged stopping for food, we later realized that it was a good thing we did since he had been fasting for Ramadan! The Burger King wraps were tasty enough I guess. :-) Delevan slept some and we arrived about 9pm in Jerusalem. We briefly had some tea and snacks [pictured below with volunteers Shoshi and Philip], but Delevan looked exhausted and retired quickly down to the Shevet office after her long journey.
This morning Philip took Delevan and her father to the hospital near Tel Aviv where, God willing, her surgery will be done through the Save a Child’s Heart program. She is pictured below waiting alongside the weekly contingent of Palestinian patients.
Philip writes: Delevan (her dad pronounces it Dee lee von) was very tired today. She spent a lot of time in a crouched position throughout the day...I don't know all the medical terminology but it looks like she has a whole list of medical problems relating to her heart. She had her whole battery of tests and they were going to keep her over night at the hospital because they were concerned about some things but in the end she went home to the Azur house. I think that these long trips from northern Iraq to Save a Child’s Heart always take a toll on the patients. She was looking a bit blue by the end of today. She met some of the Dutch volunteers (young women) and they were so friendly to her. They don't know Arabic or Kurdish but Delevan was actually smiling widely by the end of the day, something I had not seen up till then.
We’ll keep you posted on Delevan’s progress. And thank God that he is using these experiences to knit hearts together in the Middle East.
Jonathan Miles
Coordinator
Shevet Achim
“Behold how good and how pleasant for brothers to dwell together
in unity” (Psalm 133:1).
Delevan at Jordanian Passport Control
Dirk, Delevan, Mohsein and Jordanian Border Police
Mohsein and Delevan crossing the border
Brian and Delevan just arriving in Israel
Shoshi and Philip having tea with Mohsein and Delevan
Delevan with other Palestinians at Wolfson Medical Center
Delevan in Jordan with Dirk's youngest child
Jomana who underwent open-heart surgery as a new-born