Category — Beneficiary Profiles

On the last day of a recent trip to Jordan, only a few hours before I had to leave for the airport to fly back to the US, I had the opportunity to visit Walid, an Iraqi man who has cancer. One of my DAI colleagues accompanied me and translated for me. The purpose of our visit was to introduce ourselves to Walid and to assess his medical needs. But a surprise waited for me at Walid’s apartment, one that I hadn’t imagined, one that feeds my hope.

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In Iraq, Abu Naseer was a mechanical engineer, working in the oil industry in the south of the country. After the US invasion of Iraq and overthrow of its government, as criminality and lawlessness spread, kidnapping became a business in Iraq. In 2005, Abu Naseer’s three year old son, Ali, was kidnapped. 

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 Very recently, when Direct Aid Iraq met Abu Omar, we knew only that he had been tortured in detention centers in Iraq. He welcomed us into his small apartment in Amman, gave us tea and juice, and for nearly three hours told us the story of his arrest, torture, release, and escape to Jordan. He spoke with remarkable dignity and humility, and when he was finished he invited us to stay for dinner. “You haven’t eaten,” he said, “and this is the Iraqi way of hospitality.” To read his story, told in his own words, click “read more.”

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In 1999, while at his shop in a busy commercial district of Baghdad, Abu Walid witnessed the murder of a neighboring shop owner and helped subdue the murderer. His courage that day and at the trial resulted in death threats that forced him and his family to flee, first their home, and then Iraq.

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