American offers to help paralyzed Pinay in UAE

MANILA, Philippines - An American welder and cabinet maker has expressed interest in helping Baikan Mousa, the paralyzed Filipino worker who is languishing in a hospital in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Through an e-mail correspondence with the migrant workers advocacy group Kapisanan ng mga Kamag-anak ng Migranteng Manggagawang Pilipino, Inc. (Kakammpi), 52-year-old Milton McCormick said that he doesn’t know Mousa personally but was moved when he read an article about her a week before. Mousa, a 29-year old cleaner on a visit visa in Dubai, was paralyzed waist down after she was hit by a car while crossing a street in the Deira district of Dubai last December. In the first letter sent by Milton, resident of Louisiana, USA, he said that “(his) heart went out to (Mousa)" after reading her condition. Mousa, a native of the Maguindanao province in the southern Philippines, communicates mainly by blinking her eyes and is dependent on tubes to do other basic body functions. According to reports, Mousa has had no visitors since January when her friends dropped off her family albums. Said McCormick in his e-mail, it is not true anymore that nobody cares for Mousa. “I began to pray for you after reading your story," he said. The father of three told his “new friend" that since it is his first letter to Mousa, he wants her to know that there is hope and that there are other people trying to help her. Milton assured Mousa in the letter that she will be able to make it home despite her struggles. “God will see you through this and I will also...just learn how to smile inside and smile for me," he said. According to Kakammpi, Milton said he will only send the actual help for Mousa once he confirms her current condition in the hospital. - Kimberly Jane Tan, GMANews.TV