I am asking for donations for a former student of mine, Kewmarse.
Kewmarse is a 25-year-old first-generation Iranian born in America. His family moved to California in the 1990s to work in the medical field. We met this past summer in my Film Music class at the University of Oregon where he is working to finish his B.A.
In the last 18 months, Kewmarse has experienced tremendous tragedy and loss. His mother, father, and sister have all died. He was hit by a truck and needed to learn to walk again.
He has been struggling to find food and housing. He has medical debts, no money, and no family. I am trying to gather funds so that Kewmarse can get a leg up and a fresh start.
Kewmarse is a tremendously kind, caring, thoughtful, respectful, and articulate young man. But, at present he finds himself in a very difficult position in life at no fault of his own. He and I have been in touch via text and email. He needs money, food, prayer, and encouragement.
I ask that you please consider a donation to help him get what he needs to move forward. He is hoping to earn enough to finish his schooling so that he can get a suitable job. All he wants is to get back to having a normal life, but his grief and circumstances are so severe that he needs help from others to do so.
Here is part of his story in his own words:
"I lost everything in the pandemic. Last year (2021), I lost my father and sister to COVID-19, and that followed by later on losing my mother to breast cancer in December 2021. With my family deaths, I had funeral costs of $10,000 to pay by myself over 4-5 months.
While working to care for my mother, I endured an auto-accident getting crushed by a semi-truck. This herniated two of my spinal cord L4 and L5 discs and caused paralysis/sciatica in both of my legs. It took me six months after surgery to learn how to walk again and recover while my mom was on her final days of life. I still have $800 in medical bills remaining to pay back.
My mother passed in December. In January 2022 I was evicted out of our apartment after not being able to make rent, because in California the cost of living and expenses is unreasonable if you work a minimum wage job. I have no family living in the United States.
I was left all alone in this world to figure things out and fend for myself. I had no one and nowhere to go to. I did not have a home or a place to stay. I had been on my own living and sleeping in my car, showering in gyms, selling all of my material possessions in pawn shops and craiglist to gather resources and survive in the winter. I wore the same clothes everyday for one month straight and washed my clothes in a river. I was homeless. I starved some nights and I would go to a Salvation Army to ask for soup and bread. I was down bad.
I was forced to mourn, pay for a funeral, wipe my tears and suck it all up, just to pack my items, after bumming it out in gym parking lots and Walmart parking lots, leave, and drive across to Reno, Nevada, where a friend of mine stayed at the time. The reason for that is because the cost of living out in Nevada was significantly cheaper than living in California.
My friend helped me get a minimum wage job working at a Carl's Jr, earning $12.50/hr, and he helped me find a month-to-month lease to live in, until I finished my education. However, my friend passed away in a car accident in April, at only 25 years old.
All I want now is to graduate from school and find a job, but my time to do this is running out. I have no money. I have no support from anyone financially. I am working very hard to get past this segment of my life. I am beginning to lose hope and faith. I am tired. I am exhausted. I am burned out.
My heart is heavy and I have just horrible emotions that run through me everyday and I can't think straight. I have no reason to keep going without seeing light at the end of the tunnel.
Please. For the love of God, help me. I am a broken man. I have no desire to go on if this is the suffering that I will have to endure. I have never felt so low in my life and I truly dont know where else to go. Again, I am crying while writing this to you because I feel as if I am being shot in my chest multiple times everyday that I go out in this world. I feel alone. I feel like I am in a whirlpool of never ending stress, anxiety, sadness, and depression and I have no hope left.
I am open to hearing ideas and information that you can give me so that I can move on with my life, past the University of Oregon. I am trying to get a job so that I can support myself.
I need help. Please help me. I don't know what to do anymore."
