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Seven months ago the students at Crandon Elementary School donated $200 dollars through their Pop N' Read program to a blind girl halfway around the world whom they had never met. On Thursday, students got the chance to meet the girl they had helped.

Zahraa, a seven-year-old Iraqi girl, had been practically blind since she was very little, according to her grandmother. With the help of the students at Crandon Elementary, the Lions Club, doctors and staff at Aspirus Wausau Hospital and a caring Northwoods community, Zahraa is recovering from one cornea transplant and has a second one scheduled for later this month.

Zahraa's condition was discovered by U.S. Army Sergeant John Kempen while serving in Iraq. Kempen, now stationed at Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks, Alaska, came to the school to reunite with Zahraa. He said he first noticed the girl when a couple of boys were giving her the candy that troops were throwing to the children. According to Kempen, the boys were usually not so generous, so he asked them why they were giving her the candy. The boys told him that Zahraa's eyes were bad.

“I told the medic who was riding with us to pick up Zahraa and bring her to the clinic,” said Kempen. “The clinic gave her some sunglasses and eyedrops. It seemed like a horrible solution.”

Kempen was told that if he could find a sponsor in the United States, Zahraa might be able to get her eyes fixed.

Unfortunately, the list of people who needed help in Iraq was thousands of names long. So Kempen took matters into his own hands and e-mailed his mother, who works in the medical community, for help.

“She got a hold of the Lions Club and here we are,” he said.

The Crandon Lions Club, led by Frank Bocek, began the nearly year-long process of bringing Zahraa to America for her surgery, from finding a host family for Zahraa in America, to raising money for plane tickets and finding doctors to perform the surgery.

The Crandon Lions Club asked for help from the community as well as Lions Club International. While Lions Club International helped with getting visas, finding an interpreter and arranging the travel plans, the Northwoods community pitched in to help with fundraising. The Aspirus Wausau Hospital and its doctors donated their services while community members donated money to help pay for the plane tickets. The most precious donation to the Lions Club, however, came from the Crandon Elementary students.

“To us Lions, that (the student's donation) was the most important donation we received,” said Bocek.

The Lions Club presented the school and its students with a plaque for their donations. The plaque will be displayed in a place of honor at the school.

“You are the only people in the whole world who gave everything they had to Zahraa,” Crandon Lions Club President Earl (Sandy) Guinther told the students.

With the help of the students, Zahraa was able to make the 15 hour trip to Wisconsin for her eye surgery. Her first surgery was completed Aug. 28. Since the cornea transplant, Zahraa's vision has improved dramatically.

According to the doctor who performed the surgery, Doctor Kevin Flaherty, M.D., Zahraa is doing well after her first surgery. “The swelling in her corneas is diminishing and the blisters are gone. She is making good progress.”

Zahraa will now be able to go to school, something she had never been able to do before. On Thursday, she got her first taste of what school is like by visiting the school whose students helped to give her sight.

Zahraa toured several classrooms, receiving a warm reception, cards and hugs from the students before being treated to ice cream, one of her favorite American foods, by the Lions Club.

“Before, she couldn't see anything,” said Zahraa's grandmother. “Now she can see everything. She can play.”

Sgt. Kempen was presented with the Order of the Lion medal, the highest honor a non-Lion can receive, for his efforts.

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Comments »

Rhonda Harrison wrote on Oct 5, 2007 4:21 PM:

" If we could only have more people in this world who wanted to help others just for the sake of helping them, not wanting something in return. Sgt. Kempen understands this very well and thanks to his compassion, got the ball rolling to find others with that same compassion. This is the kind of "lesson" our children need to be learning; God bless Crandon Elementary for not being afraid to teach it. "

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