"The Voice of the New Due Process Army" ————– Musings on Events in U.S. Immigration Court, Immigration Law, Sports, and Other Random Topics by Retired United States Immigration Judge (Arlington, Virginia) and former Chairman of the Board of Immigration Appeals Paul Wickham Schmidt. To see my complete professional bio, just click on the link below.
Caught in the crossfire: Mainers aid in medical rescue of Afghan boy
Fawad, then 6 years old, was hit by a bullet as his family tried to flee Afghanistan during the U.S. withdrawal. A network that included Maine residents came together to bring him to safety.
Zohra would later recall that she felt the wind of a bullet graze her skin as she ran toward the airport gate, clutching her oldest child in her arms.
Only when she sat her son on a chair inside Kabul’s airport did she realize the bullet had torn through Fawad’s face. He was just 6 years old. Zohra fainted.
Fawad was caught in the crossfire in August 2021, as thousands tried to flee Afghanistan in the final days of U.S. withdrawal.
In the year that followed, a network of Americans, including family members in Portland and their immigration lawyer in Damariscotta, would fight to get Fawad, his parents and his younger brother to the U.S. for reconstructive surgery.
Fawad’s condition was too severe for any hospital in Afghanistan, where he received only basic medical care and faced a lifetime of chronic illness and persecution because of his injuries and disability.
Last October, Fawad and his family arrived at Nemours Children’s Hospital in Wilmington, Delaware, where he has successfully undergone two reconstructive surgeries and will need several more. The team overseeing Fawad’s care includes an Army communications specialist with expertise in getting people out of life-threatening situations and a world-renowned surgeon who specializes in facial reconstruction after bullet and bomb blasts.
17-year-old Marwa listens to her mother speak about her cousin Fawad, who was shot while trying to evacuate Afghanistan. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer
Foremost among the Mainers who worked to rescue Fawad is his cousin Marwa, a senior at Casco Bay High School. Her calm, determination and skill as an interpreter and advocate for her family are credited with making Fawad’s life-changing surgeries possible.
“Marwa was on speed dial for us,” said Jennifer Atkinson, the Damariscotta attorney. “The whole time I’m dealing with this amazing 16-year-old girl who is a lifeline for this traumatized family in Afghanistan.”
Now 17, Marwa spoke no English when she arrived in the U.S. six years ago. The Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram decided not to use family members’ last names because of their fear that the Taliban could punish or even kill relatives still in Afghanistan.
During and immediately after the U.S. evacuation, Atkinson worked to help more than 20 families try to get out of Afghanistan. Almost all of the 160 or so people had ties to Afghans now living in Maine.
“The response to helping Fawad was very different,” she said. “Doors opened for him that weren’t opening for other Afghans, probably because he was a child who suffered this awful trauma and survived. But also because he had this amazing cousin in the States, Marwa, to help us advocate for him.”
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Read the complete article at the link.
Lots of heroes here, starting with 17-year-old Marwa who was determined to save her brother!
Jennifer Atkinson, Esquire Damariscotta, ME PHOTO: Law firm
Also, to crib from my friend Dan Kowalski over at LexisNexis, “hats way way off” to life-saving NDPA superstar lawyer Jennifer Atkinson of Damariscotta, Maine. I have previously featured Jennifer’s humanitarian exploits. https://wp.me/p8eeJm-70K
Additionally, I appreciate PPH staff writer Kelly Bouchard for her outstanding coverage of then “human side” of refugee resettlement in Maine.
