'n Ma

Die video hier onder, wat Lion uitgestuur het, het almal wat die aand meegemaak het, bewoë gehad. En raak blykbaar nog baie mense soos dit met hulle gedeel word.

As 'n Irakese weeskind met 'n hoogs verminkte liggaam op die verhoog van die X-factor voor 'n reuse-skare verskyn, al strompelende, om sy sangtalent te wys, is die gevoelens intens gemengd.

Groot is die verligting en stormagtig die reaksie.

Almal is vol verwondering oor sy moed en vasbyt. Dit sê die beoordelaars ook. 

Maar, in een van die werklik mooi oomblikke, sê een van hulle niks daaroor nie. Hy, met  bewoëndheid en nugterheid, merk op dat die seun eenvoudig net 'n mooi stem het. Die beoordelaar doen absoluut die regte ding: Dit is tyd om na die seun as mens en sanger te kyk.

En tog, mens kan nie anders as om sy geskiedenis te bly bedink nie: watter gemaklike jong seun is hy tog nie. Hier stap hy op, vol glimlagte, vol uitsien na die oomblik dat hy kan sien. Sy lewe is heel. Hy is ontspanne. Hy wil sing. En juis daarom is hy so 'n volledige persoon.

Ek dink 'n paar dinge: oor die verskrikking en verminking wat oorlog bring. Oor kinders wat in weeshuise beland en wat die lewe ingaan sonder dat hulle eers weet wanneer hulle gebore is nie. 

Maar wat regtig tot 'n mens deurdring is hierdie een vraag: hoe is dit moontlik dat hy so natuurlik, gesond, vol vertroue, gelaai met menslikheid kan wees. Wie sit hier agter?

Die antwoord is duidelik. Hy het 'n besondere ma: hierdie Australiese vrou wat kindertjies in die Moeder Teresa weeshuis in Bagdad gaan haal en grootgemaak het, hulle in haar huis ingebring het, vir hulle die beste gegee het deur vir hulle normaal en gemaklik en vol geesdrif groot te laat word. 

Wie is die vrou? wonder ek. 

Die video vertel alles van die seun, maar laat weet min van die ma.

Ek gaan soek bietjie en, nog meer verrassings: sy het haar werk vir ander aan die sy van Moeder Teresa begin en toe - van alle plekke - in Botswana en Johannesburg. En haar hele lewe is gedryf deur sulke werk onder hulle wat byna geen hoop het nie. 

Heel onderaan is 'n weergawe van haar lewe. 

Born in 1964, Moira commenced her selfless contributions to the less fortunate at the very young age of 13. At 20 years old, she left home and went and worked with Aboriginal children in Western Australia.


At 22, Moira worked alongside Mother Theresa in Calcutta. After working in Calcutta Moira returned home to work with AIDS sufferers and establish a "special unit" for boys with behavioural problems at Sutherland Homes.


At 26, Moira left Australia again for Botswana where she worked with the Kalahari bushmen on a self help project. She then travelled to Johannesburg and then New York. Whilst overseas, Moira worked with some of the world's least fortunate people. She has carried out large-scale humanitarian projects and has been there to assist desperate and sick individuals in Johannesburg, the Bronx (USA), Romania, Bosnia and Albania. She has set up soup kitchens, refugee camps, dental clinics, schools, managed an AIDS hospital and adult education programs.


Moira has been recognised with many community, national and international awards for her humanitarian work. In 1989, at just 25, she was awarded a Queen' Trust Achiever Award and the Victorian Young Achiever Award for Community Service.


In 1994, Moira was awarded the inaugural Sir Edward Dunlop Award for humanitarian service and in 1995 Moira's efforts in Bosnia were honoured by a meeting with the Queen at Buckingham Palace.


In 2001, Moira received a number of national and international awards for her incredible work. She was awarded the White Flame Award given by Save the Children to recognise outstanding service to disadvantaged children. She was also was one of 10 people recognised internationally for their contribution to the world. In Australia, Moira received The Prime Minister's Award for outstanding community service and was made an Officer (AO) in the General Division of the Order of Australia in recognition of her "outstanding service to the Australian community through the provision of social support and service for disadvantaged people, and to the international community through the provision of humanitarian relief and assistance and the organisation of medical treatment for those affect by war or insurrection".


In 2003, and again in 2004, she was honoured by being nominated for Australian of the Year.


Moira's work has been the subject of three documentaries: A Compassionate Rage, Brothers in Arms and Foreign Correspondent. Her work has been acknowledged internationally and carries on today through the Children First Foundation.


http://www.childrenfirstfoundation.com/moirakelly.aspx




En hier is nog 'n merkwaardige verhaal - oor sy broer, en nog inligting oor sy ma:

First published on August 11, 2011.


EDMONTON - Watching quadruple amputee Ahmed Mustafa Kelly churn through the pool is an amazing, and humbling, image to conjure with, and then you remember he only took up swimming after reluctantly abandoning his first sporting love — Aussie Rules Football.


The thing is, Kelly’s significant sporting successes are only part of a cross-cultural journey of truly staggering proportions for the 19-year-old Australian, who is competing in Edmonton this weekend at the Pan-Pacific Para-swimming championships.


Ahmed and his brother, Emmanuel, were born in war-ravaged Baghdad, Iraq, both afflicted with severely deformed arms and legs. Ahmed’s arms end at the elbows, and his legs have been amputated below the knee, permitting him to wear prosthetic legs.


So daunting was the parental challenge of raising two youngsters with extreme special needs, the boys were left as infants at the Mother Teresa Orphanage in Baghdad. Ahmed was left on the steps of the orphanage; Emmanuel was found nearby in a box.


Moira Kelly, a renowned humanitarian and founder of the Children First Foundation, met Ahmed and Emmanuel in 1998 and finalized the adoption of both boys in 2000. The boys grew up on Kelly’s farm near Kilmore, a town located 62-kilometres north of the sports-mad city of Melbourne.


Moira Kelly has made it her mission to “provide a safe haven in Australia for children, irrespective of race or creed, who are in need of medical or emotional support.”


Or, as Ahmed Kelly says, “The foundation brings kids with disabilities from all around the world and we try to fix them up, so they can have a better life back home.”


For Ahmed and Emmanuel, home is Australia now. Ahmed, who got a late start in school for obvious reasons, is about to graduate from high school in Melbourne. He plans to study broadcast journalism at university. Emmanuel, an accomplished singer, has designs on a musical career.


The brothers have two four-year-old sisters, Trishna and Krishna, Bangladeshi children who were conjoined twins when Moira Kelly adopted them. The girls were surgically separated in a procedure lasting more than 27 hours in November 2009. Later that year, both boys were granted Australian citizenship.


“My family is extraordinary, they do amazing stuff,” Kelly said Thursday after setting a personal best in winning his morning heat of the 50-metre freestyle. “When you look back and think about it, it’s pretty extraordinary.


“But we don’t really think that. We live every day as best as we can, do whatever we can, treat every day as just a normal day.”


Sport is front and centre in Australian life, so it is normal that Ahmed has been an avid, rambunctious participant for years.


“I used to play Aussie Rules Football,” Kelly said on Thursday. “That took me to a certain (level), before it started getting really rough and the sport was moving on to become really fast.”


Kelly’s approach to that quintessentially Australian sport was sufficiently tough and fearless — he chose not to use prosthetic hands — that respectful teammates nicknamed him ‘Nails.’


When he opted to channel his competitive spirit into the pool instead of onto the pitch, the regard from his peers remained, but the nickname was tweaked to ‘Liquid Nails.’


“Mentally, I was capable, I really wanted to go on,” Kelly said of his passion for Aussie Rules Football. “But physically, I had to look at the (reality) of it all.


“So, I had to stop. But I didn’t want to be doing nothing in my life after stopping football.


“So, I took on swimming and I’ve found that’s a good challenge to strive for. I’ve slowly worked myself up to where I am now.”


Among other things, where Kelly is now, four years after beginning his swimming career, is the world record holder in the men’s 100-metre breaststroke in the SB3 disabled category. Clearly, whether in football or swimming, he is a quick study.


“You don’t work on a timeline, you just work as hard as you can and give it your best every day,” Kelly said. “I train pretty hard, I’ve got a great coach, great family support, as well as from my school.


“It’s hard not to do well when you’ve got that much support around you.”


Kelly will race in four events here in Edmonton. He was fifth in the 50-free on Thursday night and swims the 50-metre breaststroke today. He has his sights set squarely on qualifying for the 2012 Paralympics in London at the Australian trials next spring in Adelaide.


“When I get to the Paralympics, it’s going to be amazing, overwhelming,” Kelly said. “It’s just something I’ve worked really hard for.”


Part of that experience, should he qualify for London, would be to march into the stadium with Team Australia and see, as well as compete against, athletes from his native Iraq. He and Emmanuel plan to visit their homeland at some point, “when things settle down.”


“But at the end of the day, we’re there (at the Olympics) to race for our nation,” Kelly said. “I want to get gold as a way of saying thank you to Australia for all they’ve done for me, for making my life a lot better than it was.


“Iraq will be there. It will be great to see them competing. I respect the Iraqi people, and I’ll go over there and say hello and tell them I was from Iraq.


“You’ve got to remember where you were born; you can’t forget that completely.”

Dat Immanuel Mustafa-Kelly 'n paar rondtes later uitgeval het, maak nie saak nie. 

Sy lewe is 'n monument vir ontferming.


Hier is die bron:
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Para+swimmer+cross+cultural+sports+journey+staggering+Quadruple/5243168/story.html