Voice 1 Welcome to Spotlight. I'm Liz Waid. Voice 2 And I'm Joshua Leo. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
Voice 1 Hamma Dana is a one year old boy from Northern Iraq. In January 2010, a pair of shoes saved his life. Hamma was born with a serious health problem. There was a hole in his heart. Without help, he could not survive.
Voice 2 But Hamma did not die. He had a heart operation. The operation happened because of an organization called the Preemptive Love Coalition. Hamma's family paid for part of the surgery. The Preemptive Love Coalition raised money for the rest of the surgery costs. They raise money partly by selling shoes – this is how shoes saved Hamma's life. Today's Spotlight is on children from Iraq with heart problems and how the Preemptive Love Coalition is helping. Voice 1 The Preemptive Love Coalition works with children who have Congenital Heart Disease, or CHD. Congenital Heart Disease is when a baby is born with a problem in his or her heart. Sometimes a part of the heart has not formed. Other times the parts are there, but the heart does not work correctly. There may be holes in some parts of the heart. The babies can be very sick. Their hearts do not pump their blood effectively. This means that they do not have enough oxygen. As a result, they are often a blue or purple colour. Without an operation, these babies will not survive.
Voice 2 Around the world, about one in every one hundred babies has CHD. Heart problems are the most common physical problem at birth. In India, about three hundred thousand children are born with a heart problem every year. In the United States, there are about forty thousand children born every year with a heart problem. For some countries, it is difficult to know how many children have heart problems.
Voice 1 No one knows the exact cause of CHD. It can happen to anyone. But the risk may be higher in some situations. For example, the risk is higher if other people in the family have heart problems. There may also be some things increase the risk for a pregnant woman. This may be if she is around too many chemicals while the baby is developing.
Voice 2 In Iraq there is a very high number of children with CHD. Many of these children are Kurds, a Northern minority group. The children's families are usually poor. They do not have enough money to pay for a heart operation. Heart operations cost a lot of money. To operate, doctors must open the child's chest. The doctor must be specially trained. And the hospital must have particular equipment.
Voice 1 In Iraq, it is difficult to get this treatment. Travel costs a lot of money, and it is dangerous. The Kurdish people are also a minority group. They face extra problems when they are looking for health care.
Voice 2 That was the situation that Jeremy Courtney and Cody Fisher found in Iraq in 2007. They found that many Iraqi children had heart problems. Three thousand children needed a heart operation very quickly. With Jeremy's wife Jessica, Jeremy and Cody decided to help. Voice 1 The Kurdish people make a traditional white cloth shoe. These shoes are called “klash”. The three friends decided to sell the shoes to raise money. They started an organization called “Buy Shoes, Save Lives.” Many people around the world bought these shoes. With the money that they made, they were able to pay for some operations. This used a local skill to make money. It helped children with C H D. But it also helped the families who make shoes.
Voice 2 Many people wanted to buy the shoes and help the Arab and Kurdish children of Iraq. The organization grew larger. It is now named the Preemptive Love Coalition. Preemptive means that they are doing something before the situation gets worse. The name means that they are showing love first. Jeremy, Jessica and Cody, along with many other people, are still helping children with Congenital Heart Disease.
Voice 1 Preemptive Love Coalition has a second goal. As many people know, Iraq has experienced great conflict. Today, there is continuing conflict between different people groups. Preemptive Love Coalition works to create ties between people of different groups. How does this happen? Remember Hamma, the young boy from the beginning of today's program? His family is a good example of these new ties.
Voice 2 Hamma comes from a Kurdish family. He had a large hole in his heart. He needed an operation to fix it. The Preemptive Love Coalition raised money for him. Hamma's family raised money. Many people helped. Finally, Hamma and his mother went to Turkey for treatment.
Voice 1 But Hamma's mother was very worried. She was worried to go to Turkey, a very different country. Most Iraqis go to Iran or Jordan for medical care. She was worried about how they would care for her son. She was also very worried for Hamma's health. Voice 2 On January 7th 2010, Hamma was taken into the operating room. His mother stayed in her room. She cried and prayed for her baby to stay alive. And he did. Doctors fixed the hole in his heart. Two weeks after leaving Iraq, Hamma and his mother flew home. Hamma is growing stronger and healthier. His mother is very happy that he is better. But she is also very happy because she was treated so well in Turkey. When she returned home, she told people about this good treatment. She had new relationships with people outside her community.
Voice 1 The Preemptive Love Coalition will continue to work with Hamma and his family. They will keep visiting to make sure that he is doing well. They provide medical care and also social work. The Preemptive Love Coalition also encourages the families who have children with heart disease to work together. They have common experience and shared worries. This is another way that they bring people together. The klash shoes are a good symbol for this. The shoes can fit both feet. It is a symbol of how people can work together, even when we have differences.
Voice 2 So far, the Preemptive Love Coalition has helped about one hundred children have life saving operations. Some of the children will need more heart surgeries. And more children are born every day with Congenital Heart Disease. Some of these children may live in your community. Some live in Iraq. The Preemptive Love Coalition cannot save all the children. But if you ask the mother of Hamma Dana, even saving one life is without a price.
Voice 1 The writer of this program was Rena Dam. The producer was Joshua Leo. The voices you heard were from the United States. Computer users can hear our programs, read our scripts, and see our word list on our website athttp://www.radio.english.net. This program is called “Saving Iraqi Hearts.”
