Dominoes & Justice

Dominoes and Justice, not directly related when it comes to this post. While I am sure that many of the men playing Dominoes Sunday night were highly enthusiastic about winning a game or two, that is not the type of justice I am referring to today. After setting out the coffee and tea and the cookies we had bought for the evening's event, the men began to arrive. As mentioned in a previous post, Dominoes night was instituted at CRP to give the Iraqi men in the community a night of bonding and socializing over a simple game, reminiscent of their time spent with their male friends in Iraq.

The man I discussed in the story "Only Photos" is the topic of this post. As Sasha and I were running around between different rooms making sure everything was set up properly for the men when they arrived, we were stunned when Ghazwan came in to tell us who the first man was to arrive. The man we knew from before, the man who had been weeping while showing us photos of his family, the man who was barely able to make it through a sentence because of the damage he suffered from his stroke, and the man who overall seemed to embody a story with little or no hope at all had arrived at CRP ready to play some dominoes. Although not without struggles, his smile said it all. He entered the house using a cane, had come wearing suit pants and a blue bottom up, and greeted us with what seemed like much less physical effort than before. Without the slightest bit of hesitance, he informed us that he was going to be resettled with his family. Sasha and I were close to tears, but for completely different reasons this time.

As we sat down in the living room for some coffee and tea, this man told us in English that he was scheduled to receive his travel documents the following morning, and had gone through two interviews offered to him just shortly after our visit last week. While Sasha and I did not do anything to make this happen as there were less than 24 hours between when we saw him the first time and when he was given the opportunity to reinterview, he thanked Sasha and I as if we were his angels.

Although a bit obvious and cliche, it is these rare but truly heartwarming success stories that make it all worth while. If I were to get on a plane and leave Amman tomorrow, I could leave with this man's smile in my mind making my entire time working with Sasha and CRP seem complete.