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From
her home in Bucks County, Rowayda Jaaf wanted to
read the words over and over again.
Visa approved. Visa approved.
After a year spent begging immigration officials to
allow her nephew Shaida Abbas into the United
States, those two little words hold such promise.
In an e-mail to the Global Medical Relief Fund,
officials with the U.S. Embassy in Jordan said a
visa for the 16-year-old Iraqi finally had been
approved.
An ocean and a desert stand between Shaida and free
medical care at Philadelphia's Shriners Hospital.
Letters from hospitals overseas say Shaida's
idiopathic scoliosis is "life threatening" and
causes him "severe pain." But with positive
assurances from the embassy, Shaida risked further
infection Monday and began a daylong journey across
the desert from Kirkuk to Amman for his passport,
Jaaf said.
His mother, Khalida Omar, who hopes to travel with
him to America, rented a car with a license plate
from Baghdad, Jaaf said. "It will be more dangerous
for them if people know that they are Kurd."
Meanwhile, in Falls, Jaaf reviewed plane schedules
and ticket prices for flights to the United States.
The family was bursting with joy.
"My mom was very happy. She was in tears. Everybody
is crying," she said. "Shaida is the most happy one.
He thinks he will come to America and go back to
Iraq someday, working on his feet."
"I can't believe this," Jaaf added. "I have to read
the words over and over again. Visa is approved.
Visa is approved."
And it appears that visa was approved almost a month
ago, though the family never was notified directly.
Instead, Jaaf received an e-mail Monday from Elissa
Montanti, director of the New York-based Global
Medical Relief Fund. Montanti contacted the
Jordanian embassy last week, after she was contacted
by the Courier Times, sister paper of The
Intelligencer.
In response to her inquiry, Jordanian consulate
officer Jonathan Peccia said visas for Shaida and
his mother had been approved on Oct. 31. Embassy
officials tried to contact Shaida and his mom at the
Jordanian hotel where they'd stayed in October.
"Unfortunately, we have only one contact number,"
Peccia wrote. "We were at a huge disadvantage when
it comes to disseminating information to them."
Yet Jaaf had sent e-mails to the embassy bimonthly.
In one e-mail dated Nov. 7 - a week after the visas
apparently were granted - embassy officials had
written: "We are still waiting for a response. We
will notify you as soon as we receive one."
Steve Sosebee, president of the Palestinian
Children's Relief Fund, said he wasn't surprised at
the embassy's apparent failure to notify the family.
His agency, which has brought hundreds of children
to the United States for treatment, has seen this
before.
"I'm not sure if it's bureaucracy or a lack of
experience, but it's happened," he said. "I've had
instances where they contact the wrong people."
The Courier Times this month launched an editorial
campaign in support of a visa for Shaida and has
published a series of stories since July about
Jaaf's attempts to bring her nephew to the United
States.
In addition to the Courier Times, U.S. Sen. Arlen
Specter, R-Pa., sent letters to immigration
officials in July, September and November asking
them to take another look at the case.
Immigration officials had denied Shaida's
application for a temporary visa in July, judging it
was not for "urgent humanitarian reasons" and not
"strictly in the public interest."
"(Specter) did play a role in trying to expedite
this situation," the senator's chief of staff, David
Brog, said Monday.
Staffers at Congressman Jim Greenwood's office
expressed surprise Shaida's visa had been approved.
"I can't believe that it's happened so soon," said
spokeswoman Stephanie Walsh. Greenwood's office had
contacted immigration officials in November, as well
as earlier this summer, after Greenwood, R-8, was
contacted by the newspaper.
Officials in U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum's office also
said they'd sent letters to immigration officials.
James McGinnis can be reached at 215-949-32498
http://www.phillyburbs.com
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