Turdi Ghoja
21-12-05, 11:52
Dear friends,
After reading the update on Kurban Turdi’s situation posted after the $1500 collected from the initial fund-raising effort was sent, some concerned friends urged me to continue the fund-raising effort and made their second contributions to start the ball rolling. Thus, I was carried along for a new round of fund-raising effort by these caring friends. From this effort, largely by these friends and members of the DC Meshrep community, $3630 was collected and sent to Kurban Turdi on Monday. This impressive result has fully demonstrated the power of our community and what we can accomplish if we stand and act together. When we started, I did not expect we would be able to raise $5150! It is heartwarming to learn that there are many caring and generous people in our community whom we can depend on in times of need. We truly stood up to our reputation as a community.
Taking this opportunity, I would like to express my special thanks on behalf of Kurban Turdi to DC Meshrep community for their generous donation of $2170 (of which $1500 came from a single meshrep ember), a friend from Boston who made a $500 donation, a friend in Los Angeles who strongly advocated for the second fund-raising effort and not only made generous second donation but also played a critical role in shepherding the effort, and all those friends who urged me start the second fund-raising. I also like to thank those friends from Canada who also contributed to the second fund-raising effort. Without the efforts of these people the second fund-raising would not have been as successful as it has. We should be all proud of what we have accomplished to give a second chance at life to a promising young man, give their father back to two little children, give her only son back to a helpless old widow, and give her brother back to a sister who is willing to give up one of her kidneys to him.
The question raised most during the fund-raising is “Why do we pick this person to help among thousands of others who need help? What is so special about him?†Well, we did not pick him. He was brought to our attention at a time of caring and giving both according to our culture and the culture of our adopted country. However, he is indeed special. He was born in a farmer family in a village, but he had big dreams as a child. But, life was and has been less than merciful to him. He was forced to drop out of school in 6th grade by family hardship after his father passed away. However, he did not give up hope. Fighting against extreme odds, the country boy with 6th grade education has become one of the most prolific and well-known Uyghur songwriters, composers and writers of our time. He has realized a dream that not only is too big for an orphan boy from a small village but also for people in much more favorable situations when ill fate struck him one more time as if it had been following him all his life. He is only 33 years old and needs a costly kidney transplant to stay alive. We decided to help him because we were touched by his unshakable determination to change his destiny and by the fact that he made so much out from so little he was given. We decided to overthrow his death sentence because we identified with him in some ways. Like us, he wanted to fight his way to somewhere in life, but he is not as lucky as we are today.
I'll keep you posted of his situation.
Thank you all one more time, good to know that you are there.
Turdi
After reading the update on Kurban Turdi’s situation posted after the $1500 collected from the initial fund-raising effort was sent, some concerned friends urged me to continue the fund-raising effort and made their second contributions to start the ball rolling. Thus, I was carried along for a new round of fund-raising effort by these caring friends. From this effort, largely by these friends and members of the DC Meshrep community, $3630 was collected and sent to Kurban Turdi on Monday. This impressive result has fully demonstrated the power of our community and what we can accomplish if we stand and act together. When we started, I did not expect we would be able to raise $5150! It is heartwarming to learn that there are many caring and generous people in our community whom we can depend on in times of need. We truly stood up to our reputation as a community.
Taking this opportunity, I would like to express my special thanks on behalf of Kurban Turdi to DC Meshrep community for their generous donation of $2170 (of which $1500 came from a single meshrep ember), a friend from Boston who made a $500 donation, a friend in Los Angeles who strongly advocated for the second fund-raising effort and not only made generous second donation but also played a critical role in shepherding the effort, and all those friends who urged me start the second fund-raising. I also like to thank those friends from Canada who also contributed to the second fund-raising effort. Without the efforts of these people the second fund-raising would not have been as successful as it has. We should be all proud of what we have accomplished to give a second chance at life to a promising young man, give their father back to two little children, give her only son back to a helpless old widow, and give her brother back to a sister who is willing to give up one of her kidneys to him.
The question raised most during the fund-raising is “Why do we pick this person to help among thousands of others who need help? What is so special about him?†Well, we did not pick him. He was brought to our attention at a time of caring and giving both according to our culture and the culture of our adopted country. However, he is indeed special. He was born in a farmer family in a village, but he had big dreams as a child. But, life was and has been less than merciful to him. He was forced to drop out of school in 6th grade by family hardship after his father passed away. However, he did not give up hope. Fighting against extreme odds, the country boy with 6th grade education has become one of the most prolific and well-known Uyghur songwriters, composers and writers of our time. He has realized a dream that not only is too big for an orphan boy from a small village but also for people in much more favorable situations when ill fate struck him one more time as if it had been following him all his life. He is only 33 years old and needs a costly kidney transplant to stay alive. We decided to help him because we were touched by his unshakable determination to change his destiny and by the fact that he made so much out from so little he was given. We decided to overthrow his death sentence because we identified with him in some ways. Like us, he wanted to fight his way to somewhere in life, but he is not as lucky as we are today.
I'll keep you posted of his situation.
Thank you all one more time, good to know that you are there.
Turdi