Lona Mahmood

She is eleven years old, she is from Akre/Duhok. She is one of those infants that come to this world with special needs. Her parents said that they had taken her to a lot of doctors, hospitals and health centers to have their daughter cured but they had gone back empty-handed and broken-hearted. They had been told that their daughter would have to lie on her back for the rest of her life. “we got to know that there is an organization known as Toward a New Life, which helps children with special needs, and is headed by Mr. Sarko. We made contact with his office, he talked to us in a very humble way and appointed a time for us to visit them in Halabja. We left Akre to Halabja, it’s a long way it was worth it. When we arrived in the organization’s office, we noticed that tens of other kids were there to get help just like our daughter. Mr. Sarko met us, performed some physiotherapy for our daughter and gave us some techniques to do it at home. Then he brought a special chair for Lona, we were not sure that it would be useful but we were surprised as we saw our daughter sitting in that chair. It was such a relief for Lona and us after eleven years to see her sitting, not lying on her back. We don’t know how to express our happiness and gratefulness. We hope that charitable people and civil community organizations offer Mr. Sarko more help to make him able help more children in return.