TRANSLATOR WHO HELPED U.S. MILITARY SAVES BABY FROM FIRE, BUT HIS FAMILY IN EL CAJON LOSES EVERYTHING

Hear our interview  on KNSJ with Mandy Mattis, No One Left Behind, on the Shurish family, how you can help this local hero and other translators relocated here after risking their lives to help Amreican troops.

By Miriam Raftery

February 1, 2018 (El Cajon) – Targeted by the Taliban for helping the U.S. military as a translator in Afghanistan, Ahmed Shurish fled his homeland with his wife and children, leaving everything else behind.  They arrived here just seven months ago, building a new life in El Cajon.

But now his family has once against lost everything, this time in a fire in which Shurish heroically saved his neighbor’s baby from the flames. So the community is pulling together to help this hero and his family rebuild their lives yet again.

“On January 26, his upstairs neighbor, also a refugee, ran downstairs screaming for help.,” a GoFundMe page set up by Jill Galante to help the Shurish family states. Shurish ran upstairs into the burning apartment and saved the woman’s baby boy, 10 News has reported. To date, over $5,000 has been donated.

Then the apartment building burned and flooded from fire sprinklers, destroying everything inside.

Galante says she got a text from another refugee family in the building and rushed to help, finding the family outside with just two bags and some Red Cross blankets.

“I can not fathom losing everything twice,” she says. “This is a wonderful family who needs our help and support.”

Mandy Matti and the No One Left Behind San Diego chapter is also working to assist the Shurish Family. No One Left Behind is a nonprofit run by veterans, devoted to helping Iraqi and Afghanistan translators who aided the U.S. military in transitioning to life in the U.S., as well as pitching in when an emergency strikes.

“They have nothing left. Anything you can spare will be a huge help,” she says. The Shurish’s three children are a boy, age 8, and girls ages 6 and 3.

Besides monetary donations, the family also needs items such as clothing and shoes for the children and adults, as well as household supplies.. To help, please contact Mandy@NoOneLeft.org.

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