This Woman Wrote A Touching Letter To Show The Importance Of Helping Refugees

    "We need to be telling these stories and focusing more on these great benefits."

    Brad Esposito
    by Brad Esposito

    BuzzFeed News Reporter, Australia

    This is Ali France, a Brisbane, Australia-based woman who lost one of her legs after a car accident in 2011.

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    France was hit by a car in a parking lot in May, 2011. One of her legs had to be amputated, and her injuries were so severe she couldn't use a prosthetic leg.

    "I basically wasn't going to be able to walk," France told BuzzFeed News. "For 12 months [after my accident] I couldn't use a traditional [prosthetic] socket."

    France was facing the prospect of never being able to walk again when she read an article about Dr Munjed Al Muderis.

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    Muderis is a world leader in osseointegration surgery, which involves fusing bone and prostheses together.

    At the time of her surgery, France didn't realise Muderis was also a refugee who fled to Australia from Iraq in 1999 after refusing to mutilate army deserters brought by Saddam Hussein's regime to the Baghdad hospital where he was working.

    "My boss refused to cut their ears off and he was dragged out and a bullet was put in his head," Muderis told SBS earlier this year.

    "By escaping and refusing to perform these atrocities, I became a traitor to the government, and as a result of that, the punishment would be execution."

    On Monday, the Australian government announced plans for new laws that would ban any person who attempted to reach Australia by boat from ever coming here. When France heard about this, she was incensed, and set about writing a letter to the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull.

    Rossbach / AAPIMAGE

    "I was filling in a form online and as I was writing the letter and sending it off, I thought, Oh, he's not going to read this, it's just going to be one of his staffers in a room," said France. "So then I thought about putting it on Twitter."

    France tweeted her full letter, in which she writes about Al Muderis, "the refugee who came by boat".

    Ali France @alifrance5

    Dear PM @TurnbullMalcolm re; my surgeon, the refugee who came by boat #dearPM #auspol #refugees

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    "I am writing to protest your latest announcement regarding genuine refugees and their travel to and resettlement in Australia," she wrote.

    "I lost my leg five years ago. I was destined to spend my life in a wheelchair until I met Dr Munjed Al Muderis. Dr Al Muderis came to Australia by boat, as a refugee from Iraq. ... He is the only surgeon in Australia who can perform life changing Osseointegration surgery."

    France's tweet was retweeted more than 1,000 times, and hundreds of people wrote to congratulate her on her letter.

    twitter.com
    twitter.com

    France said she spoke to Muderis last night and that he was very thankful for the impact her letter had had.

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    "Under the current system Dr Muderis would be languishing in Nauru," France said. "People like me would be a lot worse off.

    "Muderis told me, 'I think this is going to help a lot of people,' but I just felt really compelled to tell a positive story and ... he's just one refugee. And he's had a positive impact on hundreds of Australians. There's so many people stuck on Nauru and Manus Island that could be just like him.

    "We need to be telling these stories and focusing more on these great benefits."