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Believe it or not, it's not what it seems:
Military View
28.6.2008
By Jerry Hogan, retired US Army LTC
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June
28, 2008
This is a different type of story from what you
normally see in this column.
In fact, this story has nothing to do with the
military … but it does have to do with a remarkable
young family that has committed themselves to
helping the people of Iraq … or really the people of
Kurdistan.
In 1995 Billy Ray graduated from Baylor and three
years later Dawn Delp, daughter of Don and Ann Delp
of Rockwall, also graduated from Baylor. They didn’t
know each other and they didn’t even meet until
2000, but has life been a whirlwind and an adventure
for them since that date.
When Billy first graduated from college with a
history and education degree, he was not sure which
path he wanted to follow in life, so for two years
he worked in a variety of odd jobs. In 1997,
however, he entered a year-long training program in
the Antioch Training School in Waco which changed
his life. This school focused on the practical
aspects of missionary work in overseas countries.
Billy was destined to go to Turkey.
In the spring of 2000, he and eight other adults and
three children from his church, went as a team to
central Turkey to a town called Eskisehir where they
established a humanitarian aid company and brought
in medical supplies to be used in outlying medical
clinics. They also,www.ekurd.net
working with local
Turks, helped establish the first Protestant church
in that part of Turkey and only the second
recognized Protestant church in all of Turkey. He
also met his wife who was in Turkey working with
Campus Crusades. They were married a year later in
June of 2001.
Three boys were born into their family in the five
years they were in Turkey; Peter, Andrew, and
Jonathan. And Jonathan became the miracle child.
Jonathan was born with three heart defects. And
after six weeks of life, he was dying even though he
had been evacuated to the major hospital in Istanbul
and they had done all they could to help him, It
soon became obvious he needed an operation and that
meant he needed to get to the States as quickly as
possible or he would not survive.
As usually happens in a crisis, other events
happening in Turkey at the same time Jonathan needed
to leave, caused a severe problem; there were no
vacant available airplane seats out of Turkey.
Contact with all of the airlines, the U.S. military,
and with their U.S. Senator failed to help. But out
of the clear blue, a friend in the US called to say
that she had found through Orbitz one seat on an
aircraft leaving Istanbul in eight hours; could they
make it from where they were located six hours away
by road? Quickly packing a bag and throwing it in
the car, they started out over the mountainous
terrain for the airport.
On the way Dawn realized she didn’t know what to
expect and didn't know what to do if the baby
started having problems. She was facing at least 16
hours in the air with no help and no assistance if
she needed it. But Dawn’s best friend worked for
Perot Systems and they called her. She contacted
Ross Perot who then made a phone call to the head of
Southwestern Medical Center. Dawn almost immediately
received a call on her cell phone from the head of
pediatric services at Children’s Hospital in Dallas
who then proceeded to walk her through what to
expect and what to do if issues would arise.
Arriving in the states at DFW airport, the plane was
met by medical personnel and an ambulance and the
two of them were whisked to Children's Hospital in
Dallas where successful surgery was completed and
then six days later Jonathan was discharged from the
hospital totally healed. See why he can be called
the Miracle Baby?
By this time, Billy and the other two boys had
arrived back in the States. Since it had been six
years since either Billy or Dawn had lived in the
states, they were uncertain where they were going to
settle or what they were going to do. As time wore
on it seemed like their missionary career had ended
with their departure from Turkey. They came to the
Rockwall area and started establishing their life in
this area receiving lots and lots of moral support
from friends and family.
And then late in 2007 an opportunity presented
itself to Billy, “How would you like to become the
Regional Director for World Orphans in the Middle
East and North Africa?” In this position, Billy
would be supervising the building of orphan homes
throughout this area starting in Northern Iraq. Both
Dawn and Billy decided this was exactly what they
wanted to do.
But you might ask how this could be done in a Muslim
country that is engaged in a major war? If you
remember, there are three major ethnic groups in
Iraq: the Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds. Northern Iraq,www.ekurd.net
or specifically
Kurdistan which is located in the top northeastern
part of Iraq, is composed mainly of the Kurdish
people. These people, while Muslims, are not Arabs
and are fiercely independent. They believe they
should be a separate state and not part of Iraq.
This is one of the reasons that Sadam Hussein, while
in power in Iraq, used poisonous gas in the Kurdish
cities killing over five thousand of the Kurds.
There are a total of about 30 million Kurds in the
world today. They do not have a country they can
call their own. In Kurdistan in Iraq, with a
population of about 5 million Kurds, they have their
own Army of 175,000 soldiers, their own Prime
Minister, their own border patrol, and their own
flag. They have very modern cities and a culture not
really touched by today’s war that rages in the rest
of Iraq. In fact, the war today has really not
touched or affected Kurdistan. For example, when the
US Army General responsible for northern Iraq was
recently interviewed and asked how many US troops
were located in Kurdistan, his answer was “about 60
or 70. We don't need any more than that.”
Because of this environment, the World Orphans
organization was successful in negotiating an
agreement with the Kurdish leadership for church
based family-style orphan homes to be built in
conjunction with the Christian churches located in
that area. In addition to the local government
agreeing to this plan, the President of Iraq is also
Kurdish which should strengthen the arrangement.
The World Orphans group is currently attempting to
raise $1 million to be used for the construction of
these homes on church lands in Iraq. The plan is to
build up to nine homes over the next five years with
each home having the capability of housing and
raising ten to fifteen orphans.
The Ray family will be leaving the end of July for
this new assignment in Iraq. Billy has already been
there twice in the last six months; they have
arranged for an apartment to live in and an office
has already been established in the capitol of the
Kurdish area, Erbil which is a city of around one
million people.
But wait a minute; are you telling me this family of
Billy and Dawn and their three little boys are
moving to and will be working in Iraq where we have
160,000 troops and an active war is on going? Yep,
that’s what they're doing. I asked the same question
and Billy is convinced it is the right thing to do;
there have been no U.S. casualties in this area
since the war started, the government of the Kurdish
area is totally behind this effort, the support of
these orphans is totally non-political, and other
Westerners are already located in this area doing
similar humanitarian efforts. In addition, they have
the faith that this is what they are being called to
do and they are convinced it is the right thing to
do.
It should be also mentioned that while the World
Orphans organization does provide funds for the
building of the homes, no support or payment is
provided to the Rays. It is their responsibility to
raise the money to support them while they are
deployed and working in this assignment. For them to
start their assignment, they still need a one-time
donation of $10,000 and then reoccurring monthly
contributions of $1,500. These monies can be donated
to the World Orphans Organization at
www.worldorphans.org or 1-888-ORPHANS. You also can
contact Billy directly through their web site at
www.rescueiraq.com or through his cell phone at
817-690-0158.
It really does kind of blow your mind when you hear
that a family of five from Rockwall is preparing to
leave for Iraq where they will be living and helping
the local people. I was shocked myself. But when you
look at how different Kurdistan is from the Iraq we
see on the evening news each day and when you listen
to what the Prime Minister and other leaders of
Kurdistan say and when you hear the determination in
Billy’s voice, I believe they will be successful and
safe. Because when you think about it, how can a
family with the “Miracle Baby” be anything but safe
and happy?
Copyright, respective author or news agency,
rockwallheraldbanner com
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