Iraqi Student Project - Westchester Support Group

Support Iraqi Student Project-Westchester!

2011-12-29T11:23:00.000-08:00

Mustafa Ahmed (ISP) meets Demond Mullins at Andrewʼs 75th party. Demond (IVAW)
served in Iraqi with the National Guard. He patrolled Baghdad at the same time Mustafa
was a 14 year old student.

Dear ISP Supporter,

Happy Holidays! We at ISP-Westchester have enjoyed your generous and ongoing support for the past two and one half years of Mustafa Ahmed's very successful tenure at Manhattanville, now in the middle of his junior year.

As has been the case every semester, we will be sending you and many others a formal fundraising letter for the upcoming spring semester as we again raise our pledge of $8,000 to pay for Mustafa's room and board so he can take advantage of his full-tuition scholarship.

We decided to send this brief e-mail announcement so that those of you who want to can take advantage of the additional tax deduction now by sending a check dated before December 31, 2011. That, of course, would be a win-win for all of us. Then, when you get the fundraising letter in the spring it will serve as a detailed update on Mustafa's education and on the ISP project as a whole.

Thank you so much for your generosity. It makes an immediate, one-on-one difference for Mustafa and his family,

Best,

Howard Horowitz and Andrew Courtney

Tax deductible donations can be sent to:

ISP/Westchester
Fisher Avenue Post Office
Box 605
White Plains, NY 10602-9998

ISP Photo Show summer 2011

2011-06-25T08:33:00.000-07:00

New Video About Iraqi Student Project

2011-06-22T10:32:00.000-07:00

For more info, visit: http://www.iraqistudentproject.org/

Wed. June 29 -- A Summer Evening Celebration and Fundraiser!

2011-06-14T07:02:00.000-07:00

Iraqi Student Project - Westchester Support Group

Mustafa Ahmed is entering his junior year at
Manhattanville College in Purchase, NY

Wednesday, June 29 6:00-8:00pm at the home of:
Alisse Waterston and Howard Horowitz
8 Forest Place, New Rochelle, NY 10804 (near Iona College)
RSVP: courtney6@optonline.net or 914 271-8633
RSVP on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=121998744550634

The Iraqi Student Project (ISP) began in 2007 to bring undergraduate Iraqi refugee students displaced by the War in Iraq to study without cost at U.S. colleges.

The Iraqi Student Project (ISP) began in 2007 to bring undergraduate Iraqi refugee students displaced by the War in Iraq to study without cost at U.S. colleges. There are 48 ISP students studying at 36 colleges and universities in the US, surrounded by local, volunteer support groups.

The Westchester chapter of ISP supports undergraduate Mustafa Ahmed, a talented and dedicated student entering his junior year at Manhattanville College in Purchase, NY. Manhattanville College provides Mustafa with a full tuition waiver. Each year, the Westchester Support Group for the Iraqi Student Project must raise $17,000 for room and board for Mustafa.

But we can’t do it alone. We need your help! Please join us for a wine and food celebration-fundraising event to get more information on this wonderful, innovative program and to lend your support to this important project.

To contribute, please send your tax-deductible donation to:

ISP/ Westchester
Box 605
White Plains, NY 10602-9998

To contribute online and for more information about the Westchester Chapter: http://www.westchestersupport.org/

Watch a News 12 Interview with Mustafa Ahmed: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tq0F89aiWo

August 1 Benefit Party in New Rochelle

2010-09-02T10:13:00.000-07:00

The Hudson Valley Iraqi Student Project raised $2,450 at our August 1 benefit party at Joan and Sami's house in New Rochelle. Half of the funds raised go to support college expenses for Mustafa at Manhattanville College, and half for Raed at Bard College. A second fundraising party was held later in the month at Felice & Yoram's house in Tarrytown. Thanks very much to our hosts and all who volunteered to make these events a success, and to all who attended and contributed funds in support of the project.

At the August 1 benefit, we had many delicious Iraqi and middle eastern dishes cooked by Farah (photo below), who was visiting from California, and many other cooks and helpers. A special cookbook of the recipes served at the party was developed for the occasion (see cover below).

If you weren't able to attend, please note that we have more copies of the cookbook and will send it to you a donation of $25 or more, through the http://www.westchestersupport.org/ site (Paypal or mail checks to our PO Box). We need to raise as least $4000 for this year's expenses at Manhattanville so please make a generous gift if you can. You can also sign up to make a regular pledge so we'll know that we can count on your support throughout the year.

Thanks very much in advance for your help! It makes all the difference for our young Iraqi students.

The Cookbook!
Exclusive to Hudson Valley Iraqi Student Project

You won't find this at Amazon or Barnes & Noble!

Group Photo

Farah, our chef extraordinaire, & Mirene

Mustafa & Alex

Michael and Mustafa enjoy some Iraqi food

Westchester Support Group

Iraqi Student Project

http://www.westchestersupport.org/

Iraqi students in Syria try to catch up

2010-09-02T04:45:00.000-07:00

At summer school, Iraqi refugees in Syria try to catch up - CSMonitor.com

Iraqi boys study math at the Sabaa school in Damascus, Syria. Many refugee families have been unable to keep their children in school because they are needed to earn money.

By Sarah Birke, Correspondent / August 30, 2010
Christian Science MonitorDamascus, Syria

As Iraq struggles to bolster its fledgling post-war economy, some of the young Iraqis upon whom its success will depend are falling behind.
In Syria, which has absorbed the majority of Iraqi refugees, educational difficulties have become widespread. On top of the mental stresses and missed classes due to war, Iraqi students here face long commutes to schools that can accommodate them and pressing financial needs that pull them out of school to earn money for their families.

"The danger is a generation of Iraqi children ill-equipped to participate in the economy of their country," says Sherazade Boualia, the head of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) office in Syria, which spends $6 million on its education initiative. "It is also fertile ground for exploitation, early marriage, and poverty."

Read rest of article

ISP Student Attends Clark University

2010-09-01T18:17:00.000-07:00

Yes, Fouad, there is hope in America
Clive McFarlane
Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Telegram.com - Worcester Telegram & Gazette

"...Fouad was the oldest of her five children and he was leaving in the morning on a promising but uncertain journey, so she helped him pack his bags that night. It was the easiest of tasks. He did not have a lot of belongings, and if there was ever a time of plenty in the family, he wouldn’t know..."

Read rest of article about Iraqi Student Project student at Clark University in Worchester, MA.

"Iraq Is a Shattered Country"

2010-09-01T02:53:00.000-07:00

"Iraq Is a Shattered Country" - Nir Rosen on Obama Declaring an End to US Combat Mission in Iraq

Democracy Now

President Obama declared an end to the combat mission in Iraq Tuesday night in the second Oval Office address of his presidency. Although tens of thousands of US troops, special operations forces and private contractors remain in Iraq, Obama announced that Operation Iraqi Freedom is now officially over. We go to Baghdad to speak with independent journalist Nir Rosen. [includes rush transcript]

Listen to interview with Nir Rosen

Grim struggle continues for Iraqi refugees

2010-08-28T03:05:00.000-07:00

FT.com / Middle East / Politics & Society - Grim struggle continues for Iraqi refugees:

By Andrew England in Abu Dhabi

Financial Times
Published: August 18 2010

"Nearly a decade after Saddam Hussein’s downfall supposedly opened a new era for Iraq, more than 1.5m of the country’s people are scattered across the globe as refugees from their homeland’s turmoil. Another 1.5m Iraqis have been displaced inside the country, unable to return to their homes, a third of whom live in squalid squatter camps."

Read rest of article

Iraqi students reunite in Bluffton, Ohio

2010-08-11T02:01:00.000-07:00

Iraqi students reunite in Bluffton | The Bluffton Icon | Bluffton, Ohio:

"...Twelve Iraqi college students, now studying in the United States as part of the Iraqi Student Project (ISP), reunited for several days in Bluffton, Ohio. Housed in Bluffton University’s Neufeld Hall, they spent time with families of the support group for one of their own—Shahad Aldoori, an interior design student at Bluffton—and took a trip to Cedar Point."

Read rest of article

SUN, August 1 >> Meet the Iraqi Students in New Rochelle

2010-07-31T18:20:00.000-07:00

MEET THE IRAQI STUDENTS

Fakhouri/Glickman Home

27 Holly Drive

New Rochelle, NY

Sunday, August 1st, 4 to 7pm

The Westchester Iraqi Student Project (ISP) support group is having an Iraqi Student Project meetup on Sunday, August 1st at the Fakhouri/Glickman home in New Rochelle. This will be a

wonderful opportunity for the community to meet several of the young Iraqi students who are here in the New York area doing summer internships.

Farah is in her second year at Dominican College in San Rafael, Ca and will cook an Iraqi meal which is guaranteed to delight your palate. You will meet Mustafa our local ISP student at Manhattanville College accompanied by Raed who begins his second year at Bard college and Ihab who will be a sophomore at Dartmouth. Up from the city will be Randa who will attend Manhattan College this fall. Mustafa B. from Boston will try to attend. Altogether, you will meet 6 Iraqi students whose families are all in refugee status in Damascus and Amman.

The Fakouri home is a wonderful, middle eastern welcoming place. You are sure to enjoy the late AFTERNOON with good food and good company. Please come!

RSVP to Andrew Courtney >> 914 271-8633

PS. We do have tuition waivers. OUR GOAL HERE is continued help for Raed and Mustafa. Pledge envelopes will be available. You will go home with a recipe booklet of Farah’s menu including other food delights.

www.WestchesterSupport.org

Mustafa’s Summer

2010-05-09T08:43:00.000-07:00

Mustafa MC's the Connie Hogarth Center's PEACE CONCERT
Manhattanville College. 4.29.10

Dear Friends of Iraqi Student Project-Westchester,

Our Iraqi student Mustafa is finishing his first year at Manhattanville College May 15th. Mustafa is doing well academically and is engaged in Campus activities.

Your contributions to ISP/Westchester have made this a reality, and he and his support group are pleased and grateful for the continued focus on this project.

Please see our website for an update on Mustafa’s activities with the Connie Hogarth Center and his presentations to local community groups.

Mustafa will be working on campus this summer. US visa requirements do not allow him to have a job off campus. The costs for his summer room will be $180 per week, roughly $2000 including food. This will come out of his on- campus salary.

We want to offer Mustafa a weekly family dinner for continued social connections.

For two weeks in late May and then again in late August he will spend time at a local host family's house, and commute to Manhattanville by bicycle and train.

He needs a good donated Bicycle. College deadlines for the rent commitment made it difficult to find a home close to M’ville for him to live in this summer.

Our ISP/Westchester account has just enough to cover costs for the fall semester, $9,000 beyond the tuition waiver. Textbooks are not include in that figure.

Mustafa arrived at JFK last summer on his 20th birthday. He will be 21 this August 22nd.

Please share with me any ideas for a fundraising birthday party perhaps in early September when more people can be involved. In the meantime help is needed to defray summer costs, and cover the next three years until graduation!

Thanks very much,

Andrew Courtney

(914) 271-8633

PS Please send tax exempt contributions to:

ISP/Westchester

PO Box 605

White Plains, NY 10602-9998

or contribute via PayPal at http://www.WestchesterSupport.org

Spring Semester Highlights

2010-04-17T09:22:00.000-07:00

Mustafa has almost finished his 2nd semester studies at Manhattanville College
He works in the Reid Castle for the Admissions Department
Mustafa has been elected the student Club President of the Connie Hogarth Center for Social Action on campus (see photo below).
This summer Mustafa will continue to work on campus.
In late winter along with ISP student Randa, Mustafa gave a presentation at FOR in Nyack
he is also giving a presentation April 18 for the Unitarian Fellowship in White Plains .
Mustafa was a guest at a supporters Passover seder dinner.
He is grateful to the ISP supporters in the community for their continued social and financial help.

Clearwater Walkabout Coffeehouse

2010-04-17T09:09:00.000-07:00

Mustafa (of Iraq), Connie Hogarth (of Beacon), Dae Rak Lee (of Guatemala), and Patricia Thomas (of Jamaica) at the performance of Emma's Revolution with Pat Humphreys and Sandy O.

Manhattanville Peace Vigil

2010-04-17T08:55:00.000-07:00

Mustafa participates with the Connie Hogarth Center for Social Action in a peace vigil on campus April 12.

Conflicts Slow Iraqi Government-Run Student Exchange Program

2010-02-01T06:42:00.000-08:00

Infighting Guts Iraqi Student-Exchange Program - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty 2010:

"BAGHDAD -- An Iraqi lawmaker says an ambitious student-exchange program launched by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has sent only 10 students abroad in two years, RFE/RL's Radio Free Iraq (RFI) reports."

"Abida Ahmad, deputy chairwoman of the parliament's education committee, told RFI that al-Maliki's 'education initiative' was supposed to provide grants that would allow some 10,000 students to study at universities abroad each year."

"Ahmad blamed interdepartmental rivalry for the failure..."

Read rest of article

Northeast Region Iraqi Student Project Reunion

2010-01-04T05:28:00.000-08:00

See photos of Northeast regional Iraqi Student reunion, taken by Andrew Courtney, 12/28-1/1 at the Fellowship of Reconciliation, Nyack NY

View slideshow

Posted by Westchester Support Group
Iraqi Student Project
http://www.westchestersupport.org/

Ousted by war, going to college in U.S.

2010-01-04T04:58:00.000-08:00

Ousted by war, going to college in U.S.
LoHud.com - The Journal News
By Hema Easley • heasley@lohud.com • January 4, 2010

Andrew Courtney of Croton-on-Hudson takes a photo of Iraqi college students and others at the home of Nabil and Jacqueline Sayagh of Upper Nyack, who held a welcoming reception for the students. The students are in the United States as part of the Iraqi Student Project. The Iraqi college students walk outside the Fellowship of Reconciliation in Upper Nyack. The students are in the United States as part of the Iraqi Student Project, created to help those displaced by the war get a higher education. (Seth Harrison/The Journal News)

UPPER NYACK — Taif Jany had not expected to attend college in the United States. But then the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003 and all plans for the future changed.

As a 13-year-old, Jany watched armed U.S. soldiers roam his Baghdad neighborhood. Civil war erupted and anarchy reigned. Dead bodies were found strewn on the streets. Kidnappings were rampant. No place was safe.

Then one day, when Jany was 17, his father did not return home from work. He had been abducted, and his wife and four children never heard from him again.

Desperate to escape the violence, the family moved to Syria, the only country that would accept Iraqi refugees after 2006. When they entered Damascus, they, like most Iraqis, were prohibited from working...

Read rest of article

Maryland Radio Interview with ISP Student

2009-12-30T05:50:00.000-08:00

12-29-09: Learning to Rebuild --Maryland Morning with Sheilah Kast:

"12-29-09: Learning to Rebuild

December 28, 2009

Conversation originally aired September 18, 2009

A grassroots non-profit called the Iraqi Student Project, run by two Americans based in Syria, helped 14 displaced Iraqi students study at U.S. colleges last school year—it’s helping 21 more students this year. It arranges tuition waivers, raises funds for living expenses, and organizes a support network of people to help the Iraqi students negotiate life in America.

One of these students started his freshman year at Goucher College in Towson in August—Sheilah talked to him in September. His name is Ahmed. They were joined by Alessandra Manfree, director of the Iraqi Student Project Baltimore.

Excerpt from Iraqi Students writing collection put together by ISP (pdf)"

Fairfield ISP Student Profiled in Local News Article

2009-12-27T07:47:00.000-08:00

From Baghdad To Fairfield: A look at the Life of Visiting Fairfield Student Ali Abdul Majeed
The Fairfield Mirror
December 9, 2009

By: Brendan Monahan

Life was going pretty well for Ali Abdul Majeed. A University of Baghdad student with a loving family, exciting friends, and adored girlfriend-everything seemed to be coming together pretty well for him.

Then the War in Iraq broke out in 2003. Things were bad, but bearable. At first, the six foot tanned Baghdad native even made friends with American troops as they swarmed his home city of Baghdad.

“They were so cool. I was…hanging out with them, we talked a lot,” Majeed said.

As conditions worsened, though, soldiers became wary of not knowing who was an Iraqi they should befriend or who was a terrorist. The friendliness Majeed had appreciated disappeared.

Majeed, currently an undergraduate sophomore at Fairfield University, knew the ongoing war could take a turn for the worse. Then, it did.

Read rest of article

Snowboarding in the Adirondacks

2009-12-27T07:40:00.000-08:00

Mustafa Ahmed visits Adirondacks over holiday break

See more photos here

A Christian Iraqi’s First American Christmas - At War Blog - NYTimes.com

2009-12-27T06:33:00.000-08:00

A Christian Iraqi’s First American Christmas - At War Blog - NYTimes.com

Sahar S. Gabriel is an Iraqi translator who worked for The New York Times in Baghdad. A member of Iraq’s dwindling Christian minority, she left for America earlier this year on a refugee program and now lives in Michigan. Here she experiences her first American holiday season.

Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2009

People are blighted with being late and never keeping an appointment. “It’s not my fault,” they say. No, of course, not. It’s the traffic, the line at the convenience store you had to stop at for the crucial Red Bull and midday snack. I am spent after yet another day of excuses and forced smiles.

Read rest of blog

Kathryn Schulz: Billie Jean in Baghdad

2009-11-22T11:15:00.000-08:00

Kathryn Schulz: Billie Jean in Baghdad:

Author, Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error

Posted: November 16, 2009 02:40 PM

from Huffington Post

On Watching the Michael Jackson Movie With Iraqi Refugees

"Forgive me, but I am going to start at the end. I am sitting in a dark movie theater in Damascus, Syria. It is October 30 and This Is It, the Michael Jackson movie-slash-valediction, has just opened worldwide. In 24 hours, I will fly home to New York, after a month in the Middle East reporting on the Iraqi refugee crisis -- on the terrifying past, miserable present, and uncertain future of the estimated two million people who have fled the war. Right now, though, nine of those two million people are sitting next to me: my friend Z., who invited me to the movies, plus eight of his pals. Chronologically, they are just kids, college age or slightly older -- say, 19 to 25. Measured by life experience, they have nine or ten light years on me."

"...These particular kids, however, want to be in school -- more than any young people I've ever met. One of them almost started to cry when telling me about missing out on four years of school (and these are kids who can describe the bombing that killed their best friend without shedding a tear). Specifically, they want to go to school in the U.S. To get there, they are banking on a program called the Iraqi Student Project, which connects qualified Iraqi kids with American universities that are willing to waive tuition. "

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Iraq refugees face dwindling UN funds

2009-11-22T11:08:00.000-08:00

Iraq refugees face dwindling UN funds, creating concerns of unrest | csmonitor.com:

The UN has had trouble securing international funds to support as many as 2 million Iraq refugees throughout the Middle East who are barred from working in their host countries.

By Julien Barnes-Dacey | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

from the November 19, 2009 edition

Damascus, Syria - More than six years after the invasion of Iraq, up to 2 million refugees remain stranded in neighboring countries and fears are rising that international support for them is fading, threatening more long-term regional unrest.

This week Eric Schwartz, the Assistant US Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration, made his first regional tour since assuming his position in July and offered a grim assessment while in Damascus.

"This is a critical moment," said Mr. Schwartz in an interview Wednesday. "I am extremely concerned at the inadequate response to the appeals of the UN to support humanitarian assistance to Iraqis."
For 2010 the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Syria, where up to 1 million Iraqi refugees reside, requested an operational budget of $166 million. The agency only secured $55 million in international donations, down from $83 million in 2009. The story is similar elsewhere in the region.

Read rest of article

Mustafa attends UN Conference

2009-11-01T08:34:00.000-08:00

Mustafa Ahmed recently attended a United Nations conference for students attending Mennonite colleges in Canada and the U.S. At the conference, he was interviewed by a Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) fellow just returned from 2 years work in Erbil, Iraq.

See here for more info on MCC work in Iraq

How to help with Iraqi student project | LoHud.com | The Journal News

2009-11-01T06:59:00.000-08:00

How to help with Iraqi student project | LoHud.com | The Journal News:

Letter to the Editor, October 25, 2009

Re "Refugee-turned-student wants to rebuild," Oct. 15 article

"Wonderful article on the Iraqi student Mustafa Ahmed, now at Manhattanville College, tuition-free. The Iraqi Student Project brings students here to start or continue their college education at colleges that offer tuition waivers. Some 27 colleges around the U.S. have opened their doors. What is important is that a support group develops around these students to help them with housing, acclimate to a new culture, socialize and help with other financial and scholastic needs each student has. A support group needs about $12,500 per year for four years to support a student in the New York area. I co-chair a support group in New York City for a student studying here, and in these difficult economic times fundraising is a great challenge."

"For Westchester County, a great guy, Andrew Courtney, heads up the support group for Mustafa. He has developed a Web site where people can keep updated on ISP and his support group and get more information on how to support the initiative. Go to westchestersupportgroup.org."

Jim Welby
New York City

Iraqi Voices Amplication Project

2009-10-23T17:10:00.001-07:00

Video cross posted from Iraqi Voices Amplication Project

final thoughts from Syria
cross posted from Iraqi Voices Amplication Project

Last week, I spent some time talking with a young woman — I’ll call her Adab — who had just arrived in Syria from Iraq the previous day. Unlike most of the Iraqis I’ve met here, she hadn’t exactly fled, and she wasn’t exactly a refugee. Instead, she’d come to Syria to participate in the Iraqi Student Project, a Damascus-based effort to get qualified young Iraqis out of a war zone or the limbo of exile and into colleges in the United States.

In some respects, then, Adab came to Syria for less than typical reasons. In other ways, though, her story was all too familiar. Halfway through high school, for instance, she left Baghdad (and her family) and went to Basra to finish studying there. Why? Because during her sophomore year, a militia and the U.S. Army got into a massive gunfight at her school...

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Posted using ShareThis

Iraqi Students Attend Aftermath Play and Join Peace Events

2009-10-16T06:00:00.000-07:00

Ali Raad, Randa Mohammed and Mustafa Ahmed, NY-area Iraqi Student Project students, with cast from "AFTERMATH"

Aftermath description: March 20, 2003. A date that the ordinary people of Iraq will never forget. A day that changed their lives forever. The day the Americans arrived in their country. New York Theatre Workshop sent Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen, the award-winning creators of The Exonerated, to Jordan in June 2008 to find out firsthand what happened to the Iraqi civilians as a result of the events that began on that fateful day. They interviewed some 35 people—a cross-section of lives interrupted—who fled the chaos and violence that befell Iraqi society for the relative safety of Jordan. Following the visit to Amman, Jessica and Erik crafted their conversations with the Iraqis and have turned them into an unforgettable theatrical event.

See the New York Times review of Aftermath.

Mustafa (Manhattanville College), Mark Johnson (Director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation - FOR), Randa (Iraqi student at TCI COLLEGE) and Raed (Iraqi student at Bard College)

ISP students with Chief Roberts of the Mohegan Nation at the Fellowship of Reconciliation's "Peace on the River" event

Randa, Raed, Mustafa and Abdulsattar Younus, Director of the La'Onf network of Iraqi nonviolence communities. "Sattar" was an awardee at the FOR event.

[ From the FOR web site] "La'Onf was the 2009 winner of the International Pfeffer Peace Prize, awarded to Mr. Younus on Sunday, October 11, 2009 to honor those around the world working for peace and justice. La'Onf is an inspiring Iraqi network composed of organizations and individuals with different ideological and political backgrounds, gathering around the idea of non-violence as the most effective way to struggle for an independent, democratic, peaceful Iraq. La'Onf is neither a political party nor an organization. It is a free gathering of people that believe in a humanitarian, non-violent response to conflict. La'Onf refuses occupation and war as a way to build democracy and establish rule of law, even when it is presented as the only possible option. "

To learn more about La'Onf, see their website [http://www.laonf.net/]. For more information, please contact FOR Event Coordinator Mary Heckler at 845-358-4601 Ex. 32. or visit http://www.forusa.org/

Refugee-turned-student wants to rebuild

2009-10-15T15:27:00.000-07:00

Mustafa Ahmed, a Baghdad native who lived in Jordan as a refugee, is now a student at Manhattanville College. A group called the Iraqi Student Project arranged for Ahmed to study in the United States. (Joe Larese/The Journal News)

Refugee-turned-student wants to rebuild
By Diana Costello • Journal News
October 15, 2009
http://www.lohud.com/

PURCHASE - Mustafa Ahmed's best friend was kidnapped in Baghdad at the age of 16, never to be seen again. His cousin died in a car-bomb explosion at the age of 18, and he and his family have been living as refugees for the past four years because they fear it is too dangerous to return.

Yet he shrugs off the hardships and insists he is not angry.

"Anger won't fix it," said Ahmed, 20, sitting in a student lounge earlier this month at Manhattanville College. "You just have to move on. You have to fix this. You can't keep looking back."

Not looking back doesn't mean forgetting, though. And Ahmed certainly hasn't given up on his homeland. He says he is looking forward to going back to be part of the country's rebuilding - "part of the solution."

But first he is buckling down and studying up in America, the country he was taught to hate. As one of the students supported by the Iraqi Student Project, Ahmed is just getting started with his classes at Manhattanville, where he wants to study either business or journalism.

Read rest of article

A ‘bright light' in a dismal environment

2009-10-14T17:04:00.000-07:00

A ‘bright light' in a dismal environment
Journal News, 10/21/09

"Re 'Refugee-turned-student wants to rebuild,' Oct. 15 article:

To the editor:

Thank you for Diana Costello's article about The Iraqi Student Project, a grassroots effort to help young people displaced by the war obtain access to higher education.

The program, the brainchild of Gabe and Theresa Huck and their friends, is a bright light in an otherwise dismal environment. There's a lot more hopeful information at www.iraqistudentproject.org, including how to be part of the solution to a seemingly intractable problem.

Fr. James Gardiner
Garrison

The writer is director, Graymoor Spiritual Life Center."

Support an Iraqi Student In Westchester!! (Fall Fund Drive)

2009-09-21T04:15:00.000-07:00

Dear friend,

We need to raise $5,000 or more by November 30 to help pay for the room, board, books, travel and other expenses for our Westchester Iraqi Student Project Student, Mustafa Ahmed.

In February 2009, Manhattanville College generously provided a FULL TUITION WAIVER for Mustafa. He began his first semester this fall. Our end of the bargain is to pay for his living costs and other incidental expenses.

In his short time so far at Manhattanville, Mustafa has plunged into his studies and is considering a career in business and/or journalism. He has also participated in New York-area events to educate the public about Iraq, including the Aftermath play about the Iraqi refugee crisis. The local media, including the Journal News and Channel 12, have prominently featured reports about Mustafa and the Iraqi Student Project, which you can see at our web site.

Can you please help by making a generous financial contribution of $50, $100 or more now? We have to pay for next semester's living expenses at the end of November. We need to know how much money we can count on to pay Mustafa’s basic expenses.

If you’ve given already this year, please know that we greatly appreciate your support. However, if you’d like to give an additional gift, we’ll gladly accept it!!

As Mustafa will be in school for four years, we will periodically invite both regular and new contributors to support this project. If you’d like to make a regular monthly or annual pledge, please let us know.

Great reasons to give now include:

* You’re giving direct, people-to-people support to a dedicated, committed young Iraqi student who wants to heal his country and repair a portion of the damage caused by the US invasion.

* The Iraq War is STILL GOING ON, and has cost you and other taxpayers $700 billion to date. The Iraqi Student Project is one small thing we can do to educate the public about this US-initiated catastrophe, and the resulting refugee crisis.

* The tax year is ending soon, and all contributions are fully tax-deductible.

Please make a check payable to Iraqi Student Project-Westchester and send to:

ISP-Westchester
P.O. Box 605
White Plains, NY 10602-9998

You can also donate online using debit or credit card via Paypal at our Web site at http://www.westchestersupport.org/

Paypal and Credit Card Donations

Thank you very much in advance for your generous support.

Sincerely,

Andrew Courtney
Iraqi Student Project - Westchester
(914) 271-8633
E-mail: courtney6 [at] optonline.net

PS You can also help the fund drive by volunteering in various ways, and helping to recruit organizational supporters to provide regular or annual contributions. Please call me at (914) 271-8633 if you’d like more information.

PPS The Iraqi Student Project was formed by Gabe Huck and Theresa Kubasak in Damascus, Syria to bring undergraduate Iraqi refugee students to study without cost at U.S. colleges. We are incorporated as a national 501(c)(3) organization and all donations are fully tax-deductible as charitable contributions. For more information, click here.

Aftermath play about Iraqi Refugees Opens at New York Theater Workshop

2009-09-21T01:36:00.000-07:00

AFTERMATH
Written by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen
Directed by Jessica Blank
Sept 1 - Oct 4, 2009

show information purchase tickets CheapTix Sunday

March 20, 2003. A date that the ordinary people of Iraq will never forget. A day that changed their lives forever. The day the Americans arrived in their country.New York Theatre Workshop sent Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen, the award-winning creators of The Exonerated, to Jordan in June 2008 to find out firsthand what happened to the Iraqi civilians as a result of the events that began on that fateful day.

They interviewed some 35 people—a cross-section of lives interrupted—who fled the chaos and violence that befell Iraqi society for the relative safety of Jordan. Following the visit to Amman, Jessica and Erik crafted their conversations with the Iraqis and have turned them into an unforgettable theatrical event.

For more information, visit: http://www.nytw.org/
Discount code: AM4video

Posted at Iraqi Student Project-Westchester
www.WestchesterSupport.org

Mustafa on TV!

2009-09-20T05:54:00.000-07:00

News 12 report on Mustafa Ahmed, an Iraqi refugee student attending Manhatanville College in Purchase, NY as part of the national Iraqi Student Project.
Donate to support Iraqi Student Project-Westchester
Web: http://www.westchestersupport.org/

Mustafa & Randa Arrive at JFK!!

2009-08-22T20:58:00.000-07:00

Mustafa Ahmed, an Iraqi Student Project student who will attend Manhattanville College in Purchase, NY, arrives on Saturday, August 22 at JFK International Airport.

Mustafa with Raed Rakeen Ibraheim, an Iraqi Student Project in his freshman year at Bard College (see http://www.ispmidhudson.org/)

Mustafa arrives with Randa Mohammed at JFK. Randa is an ISP student who will be attending TCI College of Technology in Manhattan. The day of arrival, August 22, is also Mustafa's birthday.

Felice Gelman of ISP's Westchester Support Group
greets Mustafa

Posted by: Iraqi Student Project, Westchester Support Group
http://www.westchestersupport.org/

Life at Fairfield University for Ali Abdul Majeed Continues to Be Rewarding

2009-08-22T20:11:00.000-07:00

Life at Fairfield University for Ali Abdul Majeed Continues to Be Rewarding:
VOA News

When it comes to receiving an education, Ali Abdul Majeed says it makes you a better person as well as those that cross your path in life.

“Education is real important for the person if he is in the United States or any place else because education raise you to a different level intellectually and increases your knowledge that is what makes you a better person in the community and give you a broad idea about the world and people and you can help people, the society and the community we live in.”

The 24 year old has come a long way from home to attend Fairfield University located in Fairfield Connecticut. “I am from Iraq, Baghdad and I choose to come here because there is a program called Iraqi Student Project. This program is from a nonprofit organization, they choose a rescue student from Syria and Jordan that had to discontinue their education in Iraq because of the war and give them the opportunity to come to the United States and complete their education,” he says."

Read rest of article

ISP Founders Interviewed on Chicago Public Radio

2009-08-02T21:36:00.000-07:00

Listen to a radio interview with Gabe Huck and Theresa Kubasak, founders of the Iraqi Student Project, aired on WBEZ Worldview (Chicago Public Radio) in Chicago.

http://audio.wbez.org/wv/2009/07/wv_20090729b.mp3

Gabe Huck was a publisher and Director of Liturgy Training Publications for 35 years. Theresa Kubasak was a teacher and teacher trainer for 30 years. Both now live in Damascus, Syria where they work for the Iraqi Student Project, reaching out to eligible Iraqi students, helping them apply to colleges and universities in the US, and working to strengthen their English and writing skills for study in the U.S.

Musicians Highlight June 6 Fundraiser

2009-06-11T16:59:00.000-07:00

Gaida accompanied by Anwar on the Oud

Listen to Music from June 6 ISP Benefit:
Gaida WMA Gaida MP3

Gaida's Web Site:
www.myspace.com/gaidamusic

Amir on Santoor with Omar on the Oud

Listen to Music from June 6 ISP Benefit:
Amir WMA Amir MP3

Amir El Saffar's web site:
http://www.amirelsaffar.com/

Photos from June 6 Benefit at "Chez Mirene" in New Rochelle, NY

Please consider making a donation to the Iraqi Student Project-Westchester!! We need another $10,000 to help pay for room and board and living expenses for our freshman Iraqi student who will be attending Manhattanville College in fall 2009.

Please make a check payable to Iraqi Student Project-Westchester, and send to:
ISP-Westchester, P.O. Box 605, White Plains, NY 10602-9998

SAT, JUNE 6 >> Syrian and Iraqi Musicians Perform to Benefit Iraqi Students!

2009-05-17T04:44:00.000-07:00

Gaida (Syrian Singer) and Amir El Saffar (Iraqi Santoor and trumpet player)

Maqam is the urban classical vocal tradition of Iraq. Both Gaida Hinnawi and Amir El Saffar sing in this style, and Amir plays trumpet and the Santoor in the Maqam style. Each maqam is a semi-improvised musical recitation of poetry, performed within a formal structure that governs the use of melodies, structure, rhythm, and poetic genre.

Found primarily in the cities of Baghdad, Mosul, Kirkuk, and Basra, the maqam repertoire draws upon musical styles of the many populations in Iraq, such as the Bedouins, rural Arabs, Kurds, and Turkmen as well as neighboring Persians, and Turks. For more information and to hear Maquam music, visit Gaida's web site at: www.myspace.com/gaidamusic and Amir's web site at: http://www.amirelsaffar.com/

Please join us at the Iraqi Student Project Fundraising Party!!

A Summer Afternoon at "Chez Mirene"
of wine , fine food, music & a great cause (download flyer)

Saturday, June 6, 5-7pm,
at the home of:

Mirene Ghossein,
170 Overlook Circle

New Rochelle, NY 10804 (near Iona College)

RSVP: 914 271-8633 or 914 235-1281
courtney6 [at] optonline.net

http://www.westchestersupport.org/

June 6 Fundraising Party in New Rochelle!!

2009-05-08T19:10:00.000-07:00

Upcoming event:

A Summer Afternoon at "Chez Mirene"
of wine , fine food, music & a great cause (download flyer)

Saturday, June 6, 5-7pm
at the home of:

Mirene Ghossein,
170 Overlook Circle
New Rochelle, NY 10804 (near Iona College)

RSVP: 914 271-8633 or 914 235-1281
courtney6 [at] optonline.net

ISP student Mustafa Ahmed has been accepted with a tuition waiver at Manhattanville College for the next four years to complete his education which was suspended in Baghdad because of the war. The Westchester Support Group for the Iraqi Student Project has been formed to raise $14,700 in living expenses for Mustafa, a talented Iraqi refugee student from the war in Iraq. Mustafa has been accepted at Manhattanville College with a full tuition waiver for $32,760.

Without the $14,700 for living expenses, the official amount needed to attend Manhattanville, Mustafa will not be able to get a student visa and would forfeit his tuition scholarship. That would be a double tragedy of huge proportions. A positive outcome on the other hand would be a tremendously uplifting experience for us all!

You will meet Iraqi refugee students from ISP who have completed their first academic year of study here in the U.S. They will tell you about their adjustment to our culture and to American college life, as well the importance of an active and committed support group. You will hear their personal stories leading to their refugee status, leaving Iraq for Syria and now the United States. Other international students from Manhattanville College will be with us as well. Middle Eastern music is planned, and you will sample some food delights well known to friends of our host Mirene Ghossein.

This is an important gathering to realize the moment in August when we will greet the flight from Damascus to welcome Mustafa to the United States, New York and to Manhattanville College.

We hope you will be able to join us; otherwise, please consider making a tax deductible donation to: ISP/ Westchester, Box 605, White Plains, NY 10602-9998

Download June 6 Party flyer - please post and distribute

Iraqi student glad to have fled violence for studies at Union College

2009-05-05T09:00:00.000-07:00

Iraqi student glad to have fled violence for studies at Union

By Sara Foss Gazette Reporter
Daily Gazette, Schenectady, NY
Sunday, May 17

SCHENECTADY — When folk singer Pete Seeger celebrated his 90th birthday in Beacon, a slim and soft-spoken 19-year-old Iraqi refugee named Taif Jany joined him on stage. Jany led Seeger and the audience in singing a version of Woody Guthrie’s famous song “This Land is Your Land” that he and friends wrote.

“This land is your land, this land is my land
From old Ramadi on to Baqouba
From the Zahko Mountains to the Basra waters
This land is made for you and me.”

Jany lived in Baghdad until 2007, when he, his mother and a brother fled to Damascus, Syria. Now he is completing his freshman year at Union College, where he is studying biology with the goal of becoming a cardiologist.

“I love it here,” said Jany, who is fluent in English and also speaks French. “It’s amazing. I’m studying. This is my dream.”

Photo caption: The Middle Eastern food falafel is projected onto a screen as Taif Jany speaks to students about the Middle East.

Read rest of article

On Pete Seeger's Birthday Celebration, by Briana Therien

2009-05-04T17:53:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share with everyone a little bit about Pete Seeger's 90th Bday party last night. Andrew, Felice, Taif, and I attended the event at the Sloop Club in Beacon. The venue was a small, rustic meeting house right on the Hudson River compete with stone fire place, dinner bell, and Mulchum latrine. The attendees were a colorful, salt of the earth group who were there to do their part to support the environment, discuss equality, and jam on string instruments and drums. Pete Seeger was as much a part of the group as any but he may as well have had a heavenly light shining down upon him because it was hard not to look at him in awe.

When it was our turn at the mic, we had a wonderful introduction by the MC and the buzzing crowd fell silent (well comparative to how loud they had been). I had the video camera rolling and Felice was taking pictures. Andrew began describing the background of ISP and how much hard work was currently being put forth by the support groups. He then introduced Taif (who prior to this stated he didn't want to talk and definitely wasn't going to sing). Taif took the mic like it was second nature, described his experiences and stated how thankful he was to have this opportunity because of ISP. If that wasn't enough to have the crowd on the edge of their seats,

Taif invited Pete Seeger up to present him a gift. Pete looked at Taif the same way everyone had been looking at him all evening. He shook Taif's hand and opened the card. The card had the lyrics to 'This Land is Your Land, This Land is My Land' with the names of Iraqi locations substituting for the American ones. Pete read it and looked at the audience stating, "let's sing!" Pete and Taif took the mic and the two of them sang the lyrics with the crowd singing right along and guitar strummig. It was historic.

After the song had finished a little old lady yelled out "Send a hat around!" Like clockwork a couple of hats started circulating the audience for money collection. Taif became a celebrity right along side Pete and everyone wanted to shake his hand or give him a hug. We really had an amazing impact on this audience.

http://www.vimeo.com/4458045

The "Invisible Humanitarian Crisis"

2009-05-01T07:37:00.000-07:00

Prospects are dismal for returning Iraqi Refugees
Kansas City Star

By CORINNE REILLY
McClatchy Newspapers

...The flight of Iraqis since the invasion has been called an invisible humanitarian crisis. While the absence of sprawling camps may have made Iraqi refugees less noticeable to much of the world, their numbers are significant: Roughly a sixth of Iraqis have fled their homes since 2003.

Only a small fraction of refugees have returned so far, but it's not for want of government effort. On many occasions, al-Maliki has sent his official plane to retrieve willing families from abroad.
After complaints that returnees were left without resources, officials recently announced that they will begin handing out at the airport the $900 in cash promised to returning families.

Safety looms as perhaps the biggest issue that's blocking mass returns. Though violence remains lower than it was in 2007, large-scale bombings targeting civilians have been on the rise since March. By several measures, last month was the bloodiest that Iraq has seen in the past year.

Read rest of article

More Tuition Waivers Granted

2009-04-19T08:27:00.000-07:00

Bard College has recently granted a tuition waiver. Wonderful news. Felice Gelman facilitated this effort. A local support group now needs to be developed in the Mid-Hudson region.

TCI, a two year technical college in Manhattan is on the verge of granting tuition waivers for two ISP students. All together, this means if the funding for each student happens, there will be 5 Iraqi refugee students from ISP arriving from Damascus this August.

Monthly Pledge Options to Support Iraqi Student Project-Westchester

2009-04-18T05:02:00.000-07:00

Please help support ISP-Westchester by making a recurring donation through Paypal. Your credit card or bank account will be billed for your pledge amount every month.

Your generous support will help sustain our student throughout the four years of his education.

Please click on one of the options below to make a monthly recurring donation.

$50 Monthly Pledge

$30 Monthly Pledge

$25 Monthly Pledge

$20 Monthly Pledge

$15 Monthly Pledge

$10 Monthly Pledge

$5 Monthly Pledge

To suspend or cancel your monthly pledge, please click here:

Thank you in advance for your generous support!!

Your personal commitment is critical for enabling this unique community initiative to succeed, and expand to reach a larger number of students in the future.

ISP Students in NYC March 20-21

2009-03-28T08:25:00.000-07:00

Karam, Omar and Taif visit Battery Park at NYC waterfront, meet Buddhist monks from Thailand.

ISP student Karam Salem performs Chopin Scherzo No. 2 in B-flat minor at St. Peter's Church, as part of a benefit concert for the Iraqi Student Project also featuring Musicians for Harmony and Syrian clarinetist Kinan Azmeh.

ISP Students in Tarrytown March 21

2009-03-28T07:57:00.000-07:00

March 21, 2009. ISP student Karam Salem, pianist, at the Gelman home, Tarrytown, NY, asking audience to select piano notes for improvisation. The full house of guests met ISP students Karam, Omar, and Taif, as well as ISP coordinators Jane Pitz and Leslie Eid from South Bend, Indiana.

Help Bring an Iraqi Student to A Westchester-Area College

2009-02-21T12:26:00.000-08:00

Dear friend,

We need to raise $10,000 or more in the next few months to help one or more young Iraqi refugee students attend college here in Westchester County.

Can you please help by making a generous financial contribution of $50, $100 or more?

The Iraqi Student Project was formed by Gabe Huck and Theresa Kubasak in Damascus, Syria to bring undergraduate Iraqi refugee students to study without cost at U.S. colleges. In Damascus, ISP helps with English language training, admission, and visa processes. Local support groups are being formed in the U.S. around the universities that extend tuition waivers to qualified students.

So far, 14 students have been admitted to colleges and universities around the US to study this year, and 25 students are expected to come to US schools in the fall semester of 2009.

In February, Manhattanville College graciously agreed to provide a tuition refugee for an Iraqi refugee student, to enter in fall 2009. There are at least three other local colleges in the area-- Bard College, Mercy College and Sarah Lawrence College -- that may also be willing to admit an Iraqi student for study in the fall. To facilitate their entry, on February 3, volunteers formed a Westchester Support Group for the Iraqi Student Project, to help with fundraising and other support needs.

Typically, colleges and universities agree to grant a tuition waiver to prospective Iraqi refugee students. The support group plays a critical role by helping to raise additional funds to help for travel, textbooks, phone bills, living expenses and other incidental costs.

As we negotiate with the local colleges and universities, we need to show them that we have an active Westchester County Support Group that is serious about assisting our local Iraqi students. We have already received pledges for $2,500, but our first year total costs may be $10,000 or more.

We want to at least double what we have in the bank in the next 2 months, so we can ensure that we have sufficient funds to bring the Iraqi refugee students to study for four years at a Westchester-area college or university.

There are at least three major ways you can help:

1) Make a direct financial contribution now.

You can mail us a check made out to "Iraqi Student Project": Be sure to put "Westchester Support Group" on the memo line.

Please send your check to:

ISP-Westchester
P.O.Box 605
White Plains, NY 10602-9998

2) Arrange for your community or religious organization to make an organizational contribution.

This is very helpful and important. This project will be much easier if we have 5-10 organizational supporters. Does your community or religious organization have a “social concerns committee”? Here is a “Menu of Support Needs.” If your organization can volunteer to “adopt” an expense for one or more years, that would really help.

MENU of SUPPORT NEEDS:

- TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) fee -- $150-$200
- SEVIS (Student and Exchange Visitor Information System) fee -- $200
- Visa application fee -- $131
- Airfare to the U.S. -- $1300
- Student Health Insurance -- $600
- College Tech/Lab Fees - $200 (some colleges will cover these)
- Textbooks -- $600-750
- Room and Board -- $6,500
- Monthly Stipend for Students -- $100-150 (to cover meals and snacks, toiletries, incidental expenses, etc.)
- Cell Phone Service -- $480 / year ($40 a month)

3) Volunteer your time to help the Westchester Support Group in other ways, by helping to spread the word, promote the project, and assist the students when they arrive.

All kinds of volunteers are needed to help this project succeed. We need host families to invite the student for dinner or holidays; helpers with occasional transportation needs; coordinators for events and fundraising; and people who can help with publicity and outreach to community organizations.

Even if you’re not sure what you’d like to do – please let us know that you may be available to volunteer, and we’ll find a role that fits your interests and needs.

Also, please forward this letter to others you know who may be interested!!

Thank you very much in advance for your help and support. Your financial backing and contributions of volunteer time will make all the difference for a young Iraqi refugee student.

Sincerely,

Chuck Bell, Felice Gelman, Andrew Courtney
Iraqi Student Project - Westchester Support Group
Web: http://www.westchestersupport.org/
E-Mail: courtney6 [at] optonline.net

PS Because we are going to need some support over the four years that the student attends college, we also encourage you to consider making an annual or monthly pledge. If you can assist with $10 or $20 a month or more -- or a regular annual gift -- please let us know. Also let us know if you can help make introductions to other donors who may be interested in this project.

Iraq's Invisible Refugees

2009-02-20T17:35:00.000-08:00

In Damascus, a woman weeps as she describes

her family's daily life since they fled Iraq.

Iraq's Invisible Refugees
By Ann Jones
The Nation
February 18, 2009

On May 6, 2007, two men in black visited the Baghdad house Imad shared with his parents and younger sister. It stood in a mixed neighborhood where, for as long as Imad can remember, Sunni and Shiite Muslim families lived side by side with Christian and Sabaean Mandaean families like his own. The visitors invited Imad's father to the neighborhood mosque to become a Muslim. If he failed to do so within three days, they said, he would be killed...
Read rest of article here

Update

2009-02-20T11:07:00.000-08:00

An important update. Yesterday, after meeting with our negotiating team of Connie Hogarth, Ellen Katenow, Victor Leviatin, Felice Gelman, and Andrew Courtney, President Berman of Manhattanville College agreed to offer a tuition waiver for an Iraq refugee student fall 2009. This is a $30,000 waiver.

So, ISP in the lower Hudson region has now two colleges accepting a qualified Iraqi student for the next semester.
Work continues with Mercy College and Sarah Lawrence College.

What began at the Pleasantville WESPAC gathering last July is coming to fruition. However, the serious fundraising efforts
have to begin now. The ISP-Westchester support group must raise all other costs i.e. flight from Damascus, room and board, texts, health plan, monthly stipend etc. PLEASE HELP IN ANY WAY YOU CAN. Contacting others will help us as well.

ISP (Iraqi Student Project) is now a 501C-3 Tax Exempt organization

There will be a fundraising party at the Gelman's home in Tarrytown, March 21st, 7:30 pm.
You will meet Karam Salem and Omar Rasheed (current ISP students in Indiana) Karam, a concert pianist, will play for us.
ISP directors Jane Pitz and Leslie Eid will be there as well. All are welcome. RSVP iraqipiano@gmail.com

For Nyack College:
Co-cordinators for ISP-Nyack are: Bobbie Smolow bes883@yahoo.com
Briana Therien briana.therien@gmail.com

For Manhattanville College:
Co-cordinators for ISP-Westchester are: Chuck Bell, Felice Gelman, Andrew Courtney (courtney6@optonline.net)

Karam Salem - Iraqi student pianist to visit Westchester on 3/21/09

2009-02-15T10:11:00.000-08:00

Biographical info on Karam Salem from Holy Cross Connections

Karam Salem is originally from Baghdad but relocated to Syria in 2006 because his family, who are Iraqi Christians, feared violence. On a hike one day in Syria with friends, Karam met a group of Germans who knew people associated with this program. As he told them about his goals for the future they told him he would be a perfect candidate for the program and recommended him to the appropriate people. He was chosen for the program in November 2007.

Karam was sent to Holy Cross for general education and also takes music classes at Indiana University South Bend, where he intends to major in music. He loves the community at Holy Cross, where everyone knows each other, teachers have personal relationships with their students, and he has spent many hours entertaining passersby in the Atrium practicing piano as long as he likes.

Karam has the talent to become a world-class pianist and has taken nine years of private piano lessons. Now he is living his dream of studying music outside of Iraq as most of the classical music he loves originated in the western hemisphere. He devotes nearly all of his free time to practicing and attends as many symphonic concerts as he can at the University of Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s College.

Don't miss this exciting chance to hear Karam Salem perform, and contribute to support education for refugee students through Iraqi Student Project.

Donate to Support Iraqi Student Project-Westchester

2008-09-21T05:38:00.000-07:00

Dear friend,

We need to raise $5,000 or more in the next few months to help pay for the room, board, books, travel and other expenses for our Westchester Iraqi Student Project Student, Mustafa Ahmed.

In February 2009, Manhattanville College has generously provided a FULL TUITION WAIVER for Mustafa. He began his first semester this fall. Our end of the bargain is to pay for his living costs and other incidental expenses.

Can you please help by making a generous financial contribution of $50, $100 or more now? We have to pay for next semester's living expenses in November.

BY MAIL: Please make a check payable to Iraqi Student Project-Westchester, and send to:

ISP-Westchester
P.O. Box 605
White Plains, NY 10602-9998
www.WestchesterSupport.org

Become an Organizational Supporter!

2008-09-21T03:33:00.000-07:00

You can help support this project over the next four years that Mustafa Ahmed will be in college by arranging for your community or religious organization to make an organizational contribution.

Does your community or religious organization have a “social concerns committee”? This project will be much easier if we have 5-10 regular organizational supporters who we can count on to shoulder part of the financial responsibility.

If your organization can volunteer to make a regular financial contribution of $250, $500 or $1,000 or more each year, that would really help.

Also, here is a “Menu of Support Needs.” You can also make a contribution on a one-time basis to help with any of these expenses.

MENU of SUPPORT NEEDS:-

TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) fee
-- $150-$200- SEVIS (Student and Exchange Visitor Information System) fee
-- $200- Visa application fee
-- $131- Airfare to the U.S.
-- $1300- Student Health Insurance
-- $600- College Tech/Lab Fees - $200
-- Textbooks -- $600-750
-- Room and Board -- $6,500
-- Monthly Stipend for Students -- $100-150 (to cover meals and snacks, toiletries, incidental expenses, etc.)
-- Cell Phone Service -- $480 / year ($40 a month)

Please make a check payable to Iraqi Student Project-Westchester, and send to:

ISP-Westchester
P.O. Box 605
White Plains, NY 10602-9998
www.WestchesterSupport.org

To donate online, click here.

To get more information, or arrange a presentation for your organization or social concerns committee, contact Andrew Courtney, (914) 271-8633, E-mail: courtney6 [at] optonline.net

About Iraqi Student Project-Westchester

2008-09-21T02:44:00.000-07:00

The Iraqi Student Project (ISP) is a grass-roots effort to help young people who have studied in Iraq acquire the education they need to participate in rebuilding their country. To this end, ISP seeks the help of American colleges to offer these students that which the United States does very well: excellent undergraduate education.

The Westchester Support Group works to support a full-time Iraqi refugee student at Manhattanville College. Manhattanville generously granted a full tuition waiver for Mustafa Ahmed, who began studies in the fall of 2009. We are responsible for raising the balance of Mustafa's room and board and expenses. We are also working to raise awareness of Iraqi refugee crisis and hopefully expand the project to bring even more students to the U.S.

To donate to support ISP-Westchester, click here.

Our Mission

The Iraqi Student Project seeks to make undergraduate education possible for qualified students who were studying in Iraq, are unable to continue their education because of the violence, and intend to return and contribute to the rebuilding of Iraq. These students are recommended for study without regard to gender, nationality, religion or ethnicity. In the United States, ISP works with colleges and universities to secure tuition waivers or full scholarships, and with local communities to build support groups for each student.

Through its staff and Board of Directors and with the help of many volunteers and donors, the Iraqi Student Project will:

- Secure tuition waivers (or other forms of assistance such as scholarships) from U.S. colleges and universities for qualified undergraduates who have studied in Iraq.
- Work impartially to identify, screen and recommend students from Iraq for tuition waivers based on their academic records, English language ability, economic need, and overall likelihood of success.
- Assist leaders in local communities in forming support groups for each student and providing these groups with the advice and counsel they may need to meet the emotional, financial, and social needs of the student.
- Promote its mission and accomplishments to a broad spectrum of the American people.- Develop a fund-raising capacity to enable its work to move forward.

View FLYP Media multimedia presentation about the Iraqi Student Project.

Contact:

ISP-Westchester
P.O. Box 605
White Plains, NY 10602-9998
http://www.westchestersupport.org/

Andrew Courtney, (914) 271-8633
E-mail: courtney6 [at] optonline.net

Volunteer!

2008-09-21T02:15:00.000-07:00

We can always use volunteers to help the Westchester Support Group of the Iraqi Student Project, to help us promote the project and raise awareness, raise funds and recruit new supporters, and assist our students as they arrive.

All kinds of volunteers are needed to help this project succeed.

We need host families to invite the student for dinner or holidays; helpers with occasional transportation needs; coordinators for events and fundraising; and people who can help with publicity and outreach to community organizations.

Even if you’re not sure what you’d like to do – please let us know that you may be available to volunteer, and we’ll find a role that fits your interests and needs.

To volunteer, contact:

Andrew Courtney (914) 271-8633
courtney6 [at] optonline.net

ISP-Westchester
P.O. Box 605
White Plains, NY 10602-9998
www.WestchesterSupport.org

PS Please share information about our web site and events with others you know who may be interested!!

Thank you very much in advance for your help and support. Your financial backing and contributions of volunteer time will make all the difference for a young Iraqi refugee student.

Speakers Bureau

2008-09-21T02:10:00.000-07:00

Contact us to request an informational presentation or film showing for your organization.

Andrew Courtney and Emily Perry of Red Hill Films have produced the film One Small Thing You Can Do about the Iraqi Student Project and Iraqi refugee crisis. We would be happy to come to present information about the project to your community or religious group. We also can arrange presentations by other types of speakers about Iraq and and other countries in the Middle East.

Contact:

Andrew Courtney
Iraqi Student Project - Westchester Support Group
(914) 271-8633
E-mail: courtney6 [at] optonline.net
http://www.westchestersupport.org/