\u00a0<\/a>has been viewed more than two million times.<\/p>\nTwo years ago, a group of Rotarians\u00a0in Australia met and vowed to bring Mohamed to the country for surgery. It wasn’t easy.<\/p>\n
There’s no postal service in Somaliland so something as simple as sending a letter required outside help. And then there was the travel — Mohamed had to travel hundreds of kilometers to the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa for scans, x-rays and assessments.<\/p>\n
Just when the medical challenges seemed to have been resolved, the Australian government refused Mohamed’s visa application. It was the second time a country had denied her approval to enter because her injuries weren’t deemed to be life threatening.<\/p>\n
“Since this is not a growing cancer or a heart condition or a situation that could kill her overnight, I guess some people would classify that as not life threatening,” Ismail says. “But then when you’re a young women what’s more life threatening than not having a face?”<\/p>\n
“The first visa denial was from the United States, and that was hard. And then when the visa was denied a second time in Australia, we thought ‘who will have the courage to tell this to Ayan?’,” she says.<\/p>\n
“Here’s a woman who’s only begging to have medical treatment which she’s not able to access anywhere else. I’m glad that the decision was reversed,” she adds.<\/p>\n
Since Mohamed arrived in Brisbane there have been a number of firsts.<\/p>\n
“She saw a river for the first time yesterday,” Ismail says. “And walking up to this conference room she saw fish in a fish tank for the first time.<\/p>\n
“She rode an elevator for the first time (and) we had a few lessons to learn how to ride the escalator — we had a few almost-trips but we’re here,” she laughs.<\/p>\n
Ayan will undergo surgery on Saturday. Recovery will take weeks, if not months.<\/p>\n
When the scars have healed Ayan hopes to be able to face the world for the first time with nothing to hide.<\/p>\n
“She says she’s looking forward to removing this,” Ismail says, motioning toward the black niqab that cloaks Ayan’s features, “and to have a face like everyone else.”<\/p>\n
Source: CNN<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ayan Mohamed wears a niqab that covers her face, not for religious reasons but to hide what lies beneath. “She wears it to cover the deformity. She covers it because people would stare, children would cry,” says Edna Adan Ismail, Somaliland’s former foreign minister and first lady. “It’s not easy to look at.” Ismail founded […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":1014,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[14],"yoast_head":"\n
Somali woman Ayan Mohamed waits 23 years for surgery to fix shattered face - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n