Mideast Youth - Thinking Ahead

Update: Renovation of 2 Orphanages in Duhok, Iraq

February 24th, 2008Tamara (Syria, UAE & UK)

Some Good News…

Thanks to the kindness of people, we were able to collect a total sum of $1,174.23 in aid of these two orphanages in Iraq. The money has been sent and is now in the safe hands of Ausama, who will no doubt already be putting the donations to good and much needed use.

Ausama has promised to keep us regularly updated about the developments they have been able to make to the orphanages and thus the lives of the orphaned children.

All of us at Mideast Youth have been delighted to be able to work with, and aid such a worthy cause. And we only hope that with your continued support we will be able to take on and help many more desperate causes.

I would just like to thank everyone again for their indispensable donations and support.

This has shown that it is real action in the world that makes a difference, that creates change. And this has also shown that real action is possible through our virtual interaction.

It is real action that must be our focus.

17 Responses to “Update: Renovation of 2 Orphanages in Duhok, Iraq”

  1. Tamara,
    Very good news dear, wonderful that you had been invoved in this project. I am so happy to hear about some thing positive, some thing refreshing :)
    Be well Tamara :)

  2. Thanks to the kindness of people, we were able to collect a total sum of $1,174.23 in aid of these two orphanages in Iraq.

    Excellent!

  3. Sooo nice to hear.

  4. Awesome news.

  5. Great news. Thanks to all those who helped make this happen.

  6. The Iraqi Resistance thanks you, Tamara ;)

    Allah’s blessing to you and all the donators.

    Editor Louhi, Newsdesk Helsinki Finland

  7. What?

    Anyways, that’s great news.

  8. What?

    Are you questioning the comment above you, or the post itself?

    In any case this is amazing news and we are very proud to have helped in such a worthy cause.

  9. Dears,

    Once more, Thank You All so much!!!

    Your splendind effort made a most beautiful posting:
    http://theunitedstatesofmonsters.blogspot.com/2008/02/occupations-endgame-in-southern-iraq_27.html

    We kindly request you to inform the NDHF Net anytime you’ve something like this for Iraq, so that we’ll able to repost that as well.

    Also, there are many repostings in our coverage concerning the distressing humanitarian situation in Iraq (tagged as “Open Wounds - Healing Hands) which you find from our site(s).

  10. We kindly request you to inform the NDHF Net anytime you’ve something like this for Iraq, so that we’ll able to repost that as well.

    No, we won’t inform you of anything. You’ll have to come here, and hopefully learn something new about fostering coexistence amongst diverse groups. We are not interested in partnering with a bigoted blog that calls the USA the United States of Monsters.

  11. PV, regardless of his views, I think he is just trying to be nice and encouraging. The post referring to this blog was sweet, and this is what we should be concerned about. Why should we provoke and drive members away? How do you expect people to cooperate and learn if you just do that in this rude manner? Real dialogue usually takes place with racists and people you disagree with too, you know. We should be thanking the author at least for the sweet post and reference even if we don’t agree with the rest of their views. I don’t see a problem with that.

  12. PV, regardless of his views, I think he is just trying to be nice and encouraging. The post referring to this blog was sweet, and this is what we should be concerned about. Why should we provoke and drive members away? How do you expect people to cooperate and learn if you just do that in this rude manner? Real dialogue usually takes place with racists and people you disagree with too, you know. We should be thanking the author at least for the sweet post and reference even if we don’t agree with the rest of their views. I don’t see a problem with that.

    Thanks Murad. I do appreciate your words, but I’m sad you don’t appear to empathize with the Americans at MEY who are routinely and categorically demonized by this person’s blog merely because of their identity, and who it seems are expected to sit here in silence about it as long as he’s being nice about non-Americans. You are asking me to pretend a context of hate against Americans is inconsequential as long as he’s being gracious toward Middle Easterners about Iraqi kids. I don’t think that’s fair.

    I do believe MEY should offer interblog relations to someone who has created a bias-motivated identity, labels all Americans as monsters, and is dedicated to perpetuating hatred against millions of people because he wrote one nice post on his own blog about services provided to and by his own religious in-group. Where is the justice in that? You may find his post sweet, but the fact that it’s written on a blog called, “The United States of Monsters,” kind of feels like I should eat a delicious and well-prepared meal off a plate purposely made of poisonous doodoo. What if a Nazi came here full of praise and glowing warmth because Christian kids were helped by a group made up mostly of other Christians? It’s not like this guy is trying to cross over and thank a group of Americans or Jews or “the other.” He is full of in-group praise and kindness while maintaining hostility to the out-group.

    In addition, I don’t know if you are aware of this, but his previous remark originally ended by saying that if anyone at MEY wants to meet the “Iraqi resistance” on the battlefield, they should go to his blog.

    When it comes to criminal gangs like al Qaeda and their supporters, I think we need to maintain moral clarity here at MEY, even when their representatives come across as sweet and charming. The people of Iraq deserve no less than our support at all times to be free of being used for insidious purposes by anyone, whether economic or supremacist.

    I think you know what I am saying.

    Now, let me be clear. I absolutely believe in cultivating goodness in people, building them up rather than tearing them down, and encouraging all that which is positive in individuals and communities to flourish, which is why I really appreciate your response and am glad to know you and associate with you, even though you disagree with me. You are right when you say dialogue is important to have with racists too … (Your “refusal to give up on people” attitude is awesome, IMO) which is why I did say for him to keep coming here rather than to expect us to provide outreach to his blog under his current banner and motive.

    I wholeheartedly believe that the best way for us to work the intercommunal problems that plague the Middle East (and elsewhere of course) is to build, encourage, and love the grassroots, while marginalizing and rejecting irresponsible leaders so that better ones can take their place … ones that believe in coexistence and nonviolent resolutions, rather than ones motivated to use the media to demonize entire communities, and encourage people at MEY to go to his blog if they have an interest in battle.

    You should also know that rolling out the welcome mat to someone who comes here sweetly toward Iraqis while publicizing his blog, “The United States of Monsters,” is really uncool and unfair to the Americans who are part of the MEY family. I don’t see the legitimacy of a system where any out-group must tolerate being demonized as long as someone is being nice about their own in-group. Is it wrong to call him out on his anti-American bigotry and encouragement to hate entire masses of people as long as he is being nice about Iraqi kids? I completely reject the notion that the Americans here at MEY are to martyr themselves by accepting lump-sum hate by people angry that other Americans brought war to Iraq as long as the poster is being nice to and about Middle Easterners; especially since some of the Americans here are working very hard to do some really cool things for socially disadvantaged groups and individuals in the MENA region without any pay, and they are more than glad to do it.

    In my opinion, saying “thanks for helping Iraqi kids, Americans are monsters, and if any of you want to meet the resistance on the battlefield, come on over to my blog, whoo hoo!” doesn’t deserve superficial pleasantries or outreach in my book because I love and respect Americans for their individual characteristics just as much as I love Iraqis or anyone else for theirs.

  13. I wrote:

    I do believe MEY should offer interblog relations to someone who has created a bias-motivated identity, labels all Americans as monsters, and is dedicated to perpetuating hatred against millions of people because he wrote one nice post on his own blog about services provided to and by his own religious in-group.

    I meant I do NOT believe …

  14. Are you questioning the comment above you, or the post itself?
    The first one.

  15. regardless of his views, I think he is just trying to be nice and encouraging. The post referring to this blog was sweet, and this is what we should be concerned about.

    It’s not regardless of his views, it’s pretty central to the subject really if he’s coming here saying ‘thanks’ on behalf of people that are also responsible for making orphans in the country.

  16. The important thing is not how we view one another, one could be so pessimistic about her own sister as well, the important thing is a bunch of innocent kids, with no parents, caught up in the ugly unreasonable war, I mean one of the ugly unreasonalbe wars in the MEY, in the world at large, and these kids recieved a generous help from a group of cool people, who might not even like to be nice to each other, who cares, they all cared for the kids and thats cool :)
    We can even hate each other and be nice, can’t we? :) The only eveil i am wrestling with is the devil in me :) the devil in you is your problem as long as it is not kicking the the angel on my shoulder in the….knee :)

  17. thanks for sharing!

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