from asif

hey reem,

so i just wanted to let you know the impact your emails have had. the reason i was in china was for an islamic medical conference (tagging along with my parents of course). anyway, my dad is on the board of directors of the organization, and we were able to organize an impromptu fundraiser at the closing banquet. i made like 400 copies of your emails, dont worry, edited without names and phone numbers :) and handed them out to all the physicians to read. at the banquet, i even read some excerpts which particularly moved people. although i was hoping to raise more, we as a group raised $240,000 that will be distributed to various charities in lebanon through an organization called the Islamic Medical Association of Lebanon, which is a partner organization to the one my parents belong to. I also talked to the physicians about what needs to be done on the political front, and i think people really listened, but mostly, they will take the 10+ pages of emails that you wrote home with them and i am sure that many will be brought to tears the same way i was. i think it was great that you did that, and many people have already asked me to forward any additional emails that you send out.

i hope all is still relatively ok with you, as ok as they can be i guess. meaning i hope your family, mother, father, grandmother and all your other loved ones are ok. there really is no end in sight, is there? i've been getting more infuriated every day with the media's portrayal of this, and now i am back in the states, where i dont even have the sympathetic ears of a muslim environment. back to dealing with the ignorant i guess. take care of yourself reem, i know you always do.

my love,
asif