April 22, 2005
Help the Children of Iraq
by Lorraine Berry
copyright: George Sapio
More Photos
My friend, Maura Stephens, journeyed to Iraq shortly before our invasion. Her writing focused attention on the people of Iraq, not our enemies, but the people struggling to survive in a country strangled by sanctions and facing the prospect of an invasion. Her husband, George Sapio, is a photojournalist, and his photographs of the people of Iraq were devastating, poignant. I've included a link to his gallery above. But if you click on the links at the end of this story, you can see more of them.
Maura is departing today for the Middle East. I asked her if there was anything I could do to help her, and she sent me the following letter. I'm putting it up here, asking you to consider her requests. If you can't make a donation as an individual, perhaps you could talk to your church group, civic association, hell, even your bookclub, to see if perhaps there aren't things that you could do to help.
Aspirin helps at this point. These people have been robbed of so much.
Maura's letter:
Dear Lorraine:
I need people to keep me in their good thoughts, and if anyone wants to send me some money to help (I've had to borrow $ to give to our Iraqi friends and others I will meet, and I'll need funding to help me do the post-trip video editing etc.), we're taking donations via check or online donation. Here is info from the original e-mail I sent out last week I am really running now and don't have time for much else. I hope you are fine.
xo
Maura
text of e-mail sent April 13:
I am planning to return to the Middle East in nine days on another fact-finding and humanitarian trip. I will stay in Amman, Jordan, where thousands of displaced Iraqis are living. I will interview as many Iraqis as I can and write a report for EPIC; I also hope to make a short documentary with the footage I'll be shooting.
Our dear friend, Amira, the Iraqi American woman who took us in both previous trips, will be with me, and two of her brothers and another two of my friends, all from Iraq, will meet us in Amman to collect the money and small items we'll be bringing. We can trust them to distribute it as we ask. Because George is unable to accompany me this time (he's in an MFA playwriting program, which keeps him pretty well occupied when he's not at his day job) and has asked me to promise not to go into Iraq, I will honor that promise and go only to the border between Iraq and Jordan.
I am writing to ask for your help. I have raised some of the funds I need for the trip but not quite enough. I still have a few thousand dollars to go. Please don't feel any pressure, but if you are able to help, I'd be grateful for anything you can do. If you or someone you know would like to contribute, please send checks made out to
"EPIC-Education for Peace in Iraq Center"
with "Maura Stephens mission" in the memo line to:
Maura Stephens
PO Box 403
Spencer NY 14883
I'll keep track of donations before sending them on to EPIC for processing. Donations of $25 and over will be acknowledged with a receipt from EPIC for tax purposes. If you don't need the tax receipt, please make the check out to me directly, and you'll receive an acknowledgment and my heartfelt thanks, because the funds will go directly to Iraqi friends and contacts who are in dire straits, and because I won't have to pay the taxes on the donations (although they won't be a tax deduction for you if the funds go to me).
You can also donate by credit card via EPIC's website: https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?aid=1621
If you choose this option, please click "Gift Information" "on behalf of" and write "Maura Stephens" in the field provided.
If you can't help financially right now, I would appreciate your "maural" support! Whichever way, I thank you wholeheartedly for helping in this effort.
So, because at times it feels as if there is nothing concrete we can do to counter this war in our name, I'm appealing to you to help do this one thing. Help Maura. She'll be able to access funds as she travels. And please read the following articles about the work that George and Maura have done so far. I'm filled with admiration for them.
More on Maura and George's mission:
http://www.gsapio.com/9_Photos/9B_Iraq2/index.html
http://www.ithaca.edu/ithacan/articles/0302/20/news/2stephens_see.htm
http://www.ithaca.edu/icq/2003v1/iraq/
http://www.theithacajournal.com/news/stories/20030612/opinion/463773.html
Posted by in Accountability, Activism, Communities, Democracy, Documentary, Film, Freedom of Information, Grassroots, Iraq, Islam, Journalism, Media, Middle East, War
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