In the United States: Mark Clement at  724-329-8573
e-mail: mclement@bruderhof.com

A famous Iraqi child, Mariam Hamza, will arrive at Pittsburgh
International Airport on August 15

August 14, 2000. Pittsburgh, PA.  Mariam Hamza, a six-year-old Iraqi child
known throughout the Middle East and much of Europe as a symbol of all
Iraqi children suffering under the sanctions, is scheduled to arrive in
Pittsburgh International Airport at 2:05 pm on August 15 on American
Airlines Flight #5039. Her flight from Jordan to the United States is a
gift from Royal Jordanian Airlines who have also provided a complimentary
seat for her grandmother. The media is invited to meet this child and her
grandmother as they arrive. An interpreter will be available.

Mariam was scheduled to arrive several days ago and had hoped to
participate in Children's Crusade 2000, an international children's
festival held in Farmington August 11-13, but her medical condition
prevented her from traveling at that time. Doctors at the Al-Amal hospital
in Jordan have stabilized her condition and she is now en-route. At
Children's Crusade 2000 a significant new book on children, Endangered:
Your Child in a Hostile World was launched. The author, Johann Christoph
Arnold, visited Mariam in Jordan in November, 1999 and has followed her
situation since. As Elder of the Bruderhof Communities, one of the
organizations sponsoring her travel to the US, he helped arrange for
Mariam to come to the US for further medical care.

Mariam and her grandmother will be hosted by noted pediatrician Dr. Ali
Aboosi of Greensburg, Pennsylvania and by the Bruderhof Communities in
Farmington, Pennsylvania. Dr. Aboosi is donating his services as a doctor
and the Bruderhof Communities are donating all costs of transport in the
United States and all food and lodging expenses. The Bruderhof Communities
have sent several delegations to Iraq to bring medicine for the suffering
children and to express their solidarity with the Iraqi people suffering
under the sanctions.

In 1998, as a four-year-old child suffering from leukemia, Mariam was
brought to the United Kingdom by George Galloway, Member of the British
Parliament. George Galloway is the Senior Vice-Chairman of the Labour
Party's Foreign Affairs Committee. Mariam arrived in London in a blaze of
publicity and was treated for leukemia in a Glasgow Hospital. Mariam is
being flown to the United States for medical care and follow-up courtesy
of Royal Jordanian Airlines. This great humanitarian gesture by Royal
Jordanian Airlines has been welcomed and appreciated by Mariam's
supporters around the world. Mariam will travel with her grandmother
Umhadiattah Burhan. Also of note is the fact that the United States
Embassy in Amman kindly waived the visa fees for Mariam and her
grandmother. The sponsors of Mariam's trip to the United States for
medical care hope that the illegal sanctions will be lifted so that all
Iraqi children suffering as Mariam has will be able to have access to the
medical care she is about to receive.

The Mariam Appeal, a campaign to end the sanctions, was founded by George
Galloway, MP and is named after Mariam Hamza. Her picture has appeared on
posters throughout the Middle East and Europe. For further information
regarding Mariam and the Mariam Appeal please visit website:
            www.mariamappeal.com