Farewell to Hawraa

This picture from an Amman hotel room may be our last view of Hawraa for a while. She and her father left this morning to return to Iraq, nearly two months since they first arrived with a very sick child and lots of uncertainty.

Watching Hawraa toddle happily about the hotel we could see that her heart is now well, and her father's heart has been touched too. He had nothing but good things to say about their cross-cultural experience in Israel. This was very helpful when he shared with 25+ families newly arrived in Amman for the December 28 heart screening, all filled with their own uncertainties.

We at Shevet Achim are thankful for the privilege of knowing and serving Hawraa and her father, and that we were able to share in praying for her with many friends who followed this blog. Let's pray now that God's good work begun in her life will be faithfully completed.

God bless you!
Filed by Jonathan Miles

A quick healing

As you can see from these pictures Hawraa is doing very well.

She is still at the hospital under supervision but she does have some free time to play outside and enjoy the sunshine. It’s great to see her full cheeks and happy smiles again.

She is doing so well that it is possible she and her father will be accompanying most of our staff to Jordan next week. While there they will give a testimony about their experiences in Israel to about 40 Iraqi children and their parents who we are hosting at a medical screening.

Twinkle Toes

Hawraa is looking happy and healthy. Look at those toes!

Hawraa's recovery is right on course. There have been no further complications. She will be leaving the hospital soon to move back to the home where she and her father stayed before the agonizing and intense days of her surgery. While there her progress will be monitored by staff until she has fully recovered. The home is a much more comfortable place for her and her father than the hospital. Most of the parents of our children spend many days sleeping in a small room off the ward as they wait during surgery and the immediate aftermath.

Two More Days Down the Road to Healing

Hawraa gives us a valiant little wave.

Two more days further down the road to complete health. After speaking today with Dr. Tamir, Hawraa's doctor, there isn't much to report except that she is progressing as expected. The very soonest she could be released is 2 weeks from now. However, Dr. Tamir warned me that there are often minor complications that could keep her in the hospital longer than the 2 week projection. Each little one is unique and their time needed for healing is not always predictable.

Sleeping or Waking

Hawraa is doing extremely well on her second day post-surgery, and has already been moved to the intermediate ICU where these pictures were taken.

It is likely she will be off all tubes even as early as tomorrow, and maybe even traveling home to Iraq next week.

Staffer David Hartman notes that someone cut her hair just before surgery. But seeing her well is a beautiful sight, either sleeping or waking.

Hawraa is Awake and Alert

David Hartman visited Hawraa late Wednesday night.

The ICU nurse said they are very happy with Hawraa's surgery and recovery. Hawraa still has that spunky little look in her eye.

Her father was hoping to get some sleep and finally was persuaded to lay down as Hawraa is in very trained and adequate hands. They assured him that they would awaken him if anything transpired with her.

Hawraa's Surgery Today

Little Hawraa was wheeled to the operating room early this morning at the Wolfson Medical Center near Tel Aviv, as doctors attempted to repair her congenital heart defect known as Tetralogy of Fallot.

And praise God, Dr. Eli Gilad reports that the attempt was fully successful! A hole in her heart was closed, a narrow blood vessel opened, and at noontime Hawraa passed a critical step as she was disconnected from the heart-lung bypass machine and her own heart started functioning again.

This afternoon Hawraa is recovering in the ICU:


Eli describes Hawraa's father as "very, very, very afraid" today during the surgery. Above he is pictured listening anxiously at Hawraa's bedside as a nurse explains the outcome of the surgery. Hawraa is still sedated and connected to a ventilator; Dr. Gilad believes she may come off this mechanical breathing assistance (normal following heart surgery) as soon as tomorrow, and that this step should greatly ease her father's mind.

Let's continue to support this family and the medical staff in prayer, and thank God together that Hawraa's death sentence has been lifted: she is now expected to have a completely normal life.

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Surgery a Few Days Away

Filed by David Hartman
Upon entering the Save A Child’s Heart House (better known as the SACH House – SACH rhymes with ‘catch’) today, there was an uncommon silence. This is a home reserved for those that are needing a place to stay while they are either waiting for heart surgery or are in those days following while their healing progresses and follow-up appointments take place. The encountered silence wasn’t that there were less than the normal 20+ children from countries around the world; it was just the time of day. It was nap time….a welcome time especially for parents and staff….that is except for a little one named Hawraa. She was keeping her father busy in their personal room, a room set aside and designated just for them. A room that has become a home away from home and a room that has become their waiting place until their heart surgeon returned from a trip to another country where he had been using his training in yet another lifegiving outreach. That waiting period is about over, as the doctor returned just yesterday and will now schedule her delicate heart surgery in the next few days.

However one would have guessed little Hawraa’s heart to have been perfectly normal today. She was spunky and was giving her father quite the exercise in keeping her occupied while the others were sleeping. Hawraa has certainly adapted to her new surroundings, now finding them quite familiar. Her father on the other hand, although more comfortable with his ‘full of surprises’ assignment (like none other he has ever had) still wrestles with the unfamiliar tasks of cooking, laundry and 24 hour parenting. He is quick to confess his ignorance in these areas and quick to accept any and all assistance the other parents and staff are willing to give him.

What had begun as perhaps a month long trip to Israel from Iraq in order to save his daughter life has now already been nearly three weeks and the surgery still is in the near future. His questions are often concerning his soon-to-expire visa. The Shevet Achim and SACH staff comfort him by telling that all will be handled and he need not worry. This assistance, by those who are or were strangers such a short time ago, is all new to a man that lives in a country where he has always needed to watch his hind side and if any thing is to happen in his favor, he is the one that must exert the energy to make it happen…..a place where seldom, if ever, anyone offers a helping hand. It’s a place of survival and no matter how one tries even that is not guaranteed. Truly, he is experiencing that peace that passes all understanding and at the hands of Christians and Jews, those ones that he, as a Muslim, had been told all his life were the infidels. Amazing truths are filling this man’s heart as he is waiting. It is quite obvious that God’s plan may have begun with a promise of a new heart for Hawraa, but her father, too, may return to Iraq with a new heart as well.

And speaking of hearts, Hawraa has certainly captured ours!

Starting to Feel at Home

Word today that Hawraa will not have surgery for about two weeks, as the pediatric cardiac surgeon is presently out of the country.

Meanwhile she looks happy and well:



Our family liaison David Hartman reports that Hawraa's father was seen cooking a meal in the children's house near the hospital, a sign that he is starting to acclimate...although David quips that he didn't see anyone eating the food!

Waiting...

Hawraa: "a sweet little girl" says Dr. Tamir.
One of the key doctors we work with at Wolfson Hospital, Dr. Tamir, reported to the Shevet team today that Hawraa's surgery will be scheduled at the earliest for the 23rd of November but it might not take place until the following week. So we begin the process of waiting.

Hawraa's echocardogram, taken last week, confirmed what we already knew, that she is "an excellent candidate for surgery." While her condition is life threatening the doctors at Wolfson feel that she is strong enough to handle waiting a few more days. The surgery is caring for so many children that they have to constantly juggle the risks and benefits to each child when scheduling surgery dates.

So Hawraa and her father will wait in Israel. For us this is a blessing. We will have more time to minister to their needs and speak with them about the Lord who motivates and gives us strength for our daily lives. They will also get to experience Israel more fully, allowing them to take back even more stories of the helping hands extended to them here in this land.

Filed by Bethany Slater

Another few days when "the best made plans of mice and men" were not fully realized. Instead of spending the last two days under the examination of doctors at Wolfson Hospital, Hawraa has spent the time mostly napping during the day and keeping her father up at night.

The doctors at SACH have had a very heavy schedule this week. Shevet Achim was able to invite a larger than normal number of children from Gaza to Wolfson, a number of whom were immediately admitted to the hospital. This put a strain on the capabilities of the hospital staff. They had to postpone Hawraa's full examination in order to deal with some very urgent cases coming in the door.

Hawraa had a preliminary echocardogram done on Tuesday and a fuller version of the test today. When we last spoke with her doctors they had not yet gotten word back about the results of those tests. Since the "weekend" here in Israel is Friday and Saturday, we hope to hear more by Sunday.

We do know from David Hartman, who spent some time with Hawraa and her father today, that Hawraa's father is struggling to settle in at the SACH house where he is staying with his little girl. He is learning what it is like to care for a child alone, which has taken its toll on him. Please join us in praying that this be a bonding time for the two of the them.

Filed by Bethany Slater

Tuesday: the reality of dreams

Filed by David Hartman, in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Awakened in the faintly familiar surroundings of a room somewhere in a foreign land; the only thing little 3 year old Hawraa sees that is familiar is her father sleeping nearby. Another day has begun in the life of this little girl. This is the day of her first visit to Wolfson, a place she had only heard of in her father and mother's now distant conversations. Little does she know, this is the place that will give her not only a new heart, but a new chance at life.

Today begins with some basic procedures as doctors examine her little chest for the verification of the things they have only seen on paper, another day filled with new faces and new surroundings for this little princess. Today, although differently from most fairy-tales, this little damsel in distress will indeed meet a knight wearing a doctor's white smock.

Her father now stirs on his bed and as he opens his still groggy eyes, there starring at him from the nearby bed are the inquisitive eyes of his little girl, Hawraa. He, too, has made the journey through many miles and over many hurdles to bring them to this place where they now lay. He is on a journey, a journey to find the solution to save his little girl's life. This quest has now brought them both via Shevet Achim to the house operated by Save A Child's Heart (SACH) in a town just outside Tel Aviv, Israel. SACH along with Shevet Achim have made this all possible. Two life giving entities with a similar purpose, united together delivering these little ones from sure death to long life through combined painstaking efforts and funding.

Although still early, they now hear outside their bedroom door the activity of others that have come on the same quest as themselves. These too are from foreign lands, now finding solace and protection in this place. A place ever changing in its daily episodes, which always lead to the loving and caring hands of the doctors and staff at Wolfson Hospital who sow of their time, their energies and their talents free of charge to give to these little ones [though the hospital's expenses must still be paid]. It is through no cause of their own that these children are there, finding themselves in need of major help for their little troubled hearts... little hearts and little lives that up to this moment have only been given the grim report that life will be extremely short… reports that have offered no alternative, only hopelessness, discouragement and fear.

Was it just a dream? Was it possible that a place where miracles can happen is open to these children? Hawraa and her father are proof that this is not just a tale. It is for real. They have found a place and a people that take time for the little children without a thought to the expense.

It is their turn to meet the doctors, so they quickly eat their breakfast before a van delivers them to the hospital. Today's procedure is an echocardiogram, showing the doctors exactly what the imperfections are in Hawraa's heart so they can determine the next steps in her road to recovery. A road lined with adventures awaiting the little princess that she is.

Tomorrow……the results………

Hawraa Arrives in Israel after 14-Hour Day

Filed by David Hartman
Little three year old Hawraa and her father started their day Monday at 7 AM. They knew it would be a day like none other they had ever experienced. Many new faces and uncertain circumstances awaited them. They were in a foreign land (Jordan) and had been for nearly a week; separated from family and living with strangers that since their arrival had become familiar hosts and housemates. Today was different in that it started out inside the unfamiliar walls of an apartment they had been transferred to the day before in yet another foreign city, Amman. There they had been introduced to a man they only knew as Tim, an American and a fellow laborer with Shevet Achim.

Today was scheduled as the day they were to be transferred to yet another country and yet another living quarters unfamiliar and filled with strangers. Yet they had developed a trust in those that were orchestrating their steps in a way that even they did not totally understand, but knew was in their best interest.

As they headed for the border crossing this afternoon, they were encompassed and left disabled in their progress by the snarling and seemingly unmerciful traffic of Amman. Hours passed and a trip that should have taken two hours stretched into four, straining the attention span of this little girl.

After what seemed like an eternity of time in the taxi, they reached the border. It had been over nine hours now and as they exited the car and as their gaze became fixed on the stately-looking building before them, the thoughts began to enter their mind of what bureaucratic hurdles lay ahead of them. They were soon to find out.

The Jordanian officials were cordial yet professional, and without too much difficulty they found themselves progressing much more swiftly than the taxi experience had been. In a relatively short time they and their escort Tim mounted the bus that would transport them to the other side of the border crossing into a land they had never been to before, Israel. A land filled with unknowns and yet a land filled with hope as it was where Hawraa was to have her open heart surgery at the hands of doctors that were oftentimes in her own land of Iraq called the enemy. These doctors were Jewish and Hawraa and her father, Arabic. However, these same doctors are providing their services of hope for free to this family and little Hawraa in hopes they could save her life. Truly, they were reaching out to those without hope no matter who they were or what they represented.

After over three hours on the border crossing and many telephone calls later, they were allowed to pass into the country that held such promises for them. They were met by another two men (myself and Save a Child's Heart volunteer Jonah Mink), men that they had never seen before, and were relinquished by Tim, a man that had proven himself an invaluable traveling companion to them throughout this long, yet now seemingly successful day. But although the sun had set several hours before and the light had succumbed to the darkness of night, their day had yet another sequence yet to be unveiled. Now awaiting them in the darkness was a van, the one these two men had driven to the border. The last minute goodbyes to their new found friend Tim now were replaced with the anxieties of a two hour trip through the darkness in a country totally unfamiliar in the possession of these two new strangers.

Soon after this leg of the journey began, Hawraa quickly fell asleep. Sensing her relaxed concern in these new surroundings, her father himself felt that peace and reassurance that caused him to sit back, putting his full trust in these men whose faces were only seen for the first time less than half an hour before.

As the van followed the winding yet smooth roadways towards its intended destination on the opposite side of the nation of Israel, the conversation, although often times unintelligible, brought peace that comforted the heart of this Iraqi father and before it seemed to be possible the building that was to be their new home for the next 4-5 weeks was next to the van, providing yet another opportunity to see even more new faces and experience numerous unfamiliar surroundings.

After receiving their room and orientation (and relaxing with a cool drink--see photo below), we two men dismissed ourselves. We were headed to our respective homes as well, knowing that not only we, but this new couple would have ahead of them the very next morning the new challenge of preparing for heart surgery and preliminary tests awaiting them at the hospital. Truly, a new day is awaiting them, far different than any they have either ever seen before. However, the peace…it is still there, as was the much needed and welcomed bed and sleep. It had only taken 14 hours to accomplish!!

Tomorrow – Facing the Doctors and Submission to their Tests

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Hawraa at Wolfson

"Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me." - Mk 9:37

We are thankful and praise the Lord that Hawraa is now safely across the border and in the hands of the professional and loving staff at Wolfson Hospital. David Hartman left Jerusalem Monday in the early afternoon to meet Hawraa and her father at the Jordanian border. He was delayed there until after 9 pm because Hawraa and her father were held up crossing into Israel. Soon we will have more details about David's time with Hawraa and her father. Until we know more, please pray that they will rest peacfully tonight.

Photograph by Jonah Mink, volunteer photographer.

Out of the Blue

Filed by Dirk in Jordan
Just when I thought that maybe I would have a half an hour for a Sunday afternoon nap, my cell phone rang and Abu Hawraa was on the other end. It took me a while to figure out it was him. And he said that he had already arrived at Amman airport but was still busy with the authorities inside.

So I left straight away for the airport and when I arrived he had already been waiting outside for about 15 minutes. Hawraa was very shy at first and so was her father--very intimidated by all that had been going on lately. It seemed he had not had a bath and a shave for a while and he was very grateful for the room, bed and the shower we could offer him at our house.

What you need to know is that we had lined up this surgery for a very long time, maybe 7 or 8 months. We had the visa approved 4 months ago, but Hawraa and her dad did not come. We wrote to and called their contact person many times, without success. In the end we kind of gave up on this family. (It does happen sometimes, that families first say they want to come but later decide that Israel is too dangerous and then don´t come after all).

Their visa was sitting on my desk and finally, after three months expired. Just a few weeks ago we got an e-mail from their contact person out of the blue saying that Abu Hawraa had shown up and asked if it were still possible to do the surgery. The story behind all this is, that Abu Hawraa´s older brother had been killed by insurgents about four month ago. After this happened he fled, since there were founded fears that those people were after him as well. He dropped off his wife at her parents' family house and has been traveling around ever since. He does not stay too long in one place so as to not be tracked down easily. No reason as to why his brother was killed is known to him.

Life in Iraq is very tough and we are sure that there are thousands like him. We are glad that we can offer them a house and a shelter until he and Hawraa are due to travel to Israel for the heart surgery, probably on Monday, the 6th of November.

At first he did not leave the house (from Iraq he is used to not leaving the house unless absolutely necessary) and it took him a few days to be comfortable. Another problem was, that the Jordanian security had kept his passport at the airport and he had to reclaim it yesterday at their headquarters.

The Jordanian authorities are very capable and at the moment are very sensitive to Iraqies coming out to Jordan; it must have been suspicious to them that he did not hold a return ticket.

So he went to the interview yesterday and we were all praying with him for safety and that he would receive back his passport in due time. An interview at the security headquarters is fun to nobody and he was very concerned (so were we!!).

He took Hawraa along, which must have helped to speed up the process and when he called me after about four hours and said that everything was ok and that I could pick him up we were very relieved.

We have had some brief conversations about the gospel so far. Yesterday he asked about the Christian prayer, since he has seen with a Christian friend that they make the sign of the cross when they pray. We showed him the Lord's prayer and explained to him that the main thing is not to go through certain motions, but to have a heart relationship with the Lord. “The true worshippers must worship the Father in spirit and in truth” John 4:23.

Please pray with us, that we will be able to share with him the gospel in a more deep way in the coming days. The Lord has to prepare his heart to be able to receive the spiritual truth!

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