The only bright side of that grandmother’s story is that we were inundated with telephone calls from benevolent donors willing to lend a helping hand. Days after the story was aired, I received a call from a government official from one of the Gulf states. The caller, who occupies a very senior office, told me she wanted to get in touch with Sanaa. She and another senior government official pledged to provide regular financial support to the whole family.
Overwhelmed with joy, I immediately contacted those who had first enabled us to meet Sanaa. I collected all the necessary contact information and forwarded it to the caller. Help was delivered. There are hundreds of others like Sanaa across not only Mosul, but the whole of Iraq. Al Jazeera tells stories like hers to fulfil its mission of being the voice of the voiceless and sharing the human stories of the abandoned and unheard.
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