What started off as an interview to understand the last few years of his life, the 7 car accidents and injuries he has sustained, a story of unsurmounted patience and perseverance, turned into an inspiring lesson about faith and even an interesting nutrition lesson. At 57 years old, Ahmed believes that he has seen it all in his life, as he migrated to California from Syria over 30 years ago. However, the last few years of his life have been the most difficult, as he has faced tests that almost defeated his spirit and his life if he didn’t have such strong faith.
Ahmed used to be a tow truck driver and road side assistance for a large, known company. He told me about his years working from 7 to 9 pm every day, putting in the time and effort to help people who were stranded on the side of the freeways, in storms, and even in burning cars. But in 2022, while loading one of the cars onto the bed of his truck, Ahmed suffered a major accident that cost him his fingers and over 60 percent damage in both of his hands. Yet it took his company 6 months to finally send him to a specialist. He had been simply going to urgent care every week to change the bandages. Once he finally saw a doctor, they said that he had a bone infection and after two surgeries, he was told he needed physical therapy. However, his work would not cover the therapy in time and he lost precious time after the surgeries needed to regain mobility. He now still struggles to bend his remaining fingers and will forever struggle with mobility.
Not only did this life changing injury occur at work, and will leave him permanently disabled, Ahmed has also faced inadequate and harmful treatment from his employer that worsened his situation after the accident, therefore he is asking for compensation in order to survive. However, until his case gets resolved, Ahmed is stuck, unable to find other work because that would risk his case against the corporation. AAA has offered a $100,000 settlement, however Ahmed believes he deserves more for the permanent and life altering damage done by the company. “They want me to be desperate; to be homeless and accept the settlement,” Ahmed explains, “but I am a patient man.” He tells me that he will wait, even if all his disability checks go towards rent and car payments and he is left weeks without food; he won't cave. All he wishes is to be in front of a judge and state his case. He knows the moment he can speak to the law and show all the evidence of his company mishandling his case, he will get the justice he deserves.
A year after the work accident, with his case still open, Ahmed experienced another terrible accident. He was stopped at a red light when a drunk driver, going 70 mph, rammed into the front of his car. The airbags didn’t deploy. The car was totaled. “Everything went to smoke after that; I had nothing,” Ahmed said as he described his memory of the traumatic event, explaining that he felt his body “among the clouds,” before crashing down to reality.
When hearing about his second accident, one would say that Ahmed has had really bad luck. However, after speaking to him, one would see that he believes otherwise. Despite his injuries and losing his car, he called the accident “A miracle from God,” for nobody else could have survived such a traumatic blow with only the minor injuries he had. “I was blessed,” he explains, “anybody else could have had a punctured lung from a hit to the ribs that hard, but I was able to walk a few days later..” Yet, Ahmed did not come out of the accident unscathed, he lost his two front teeth and is struggling to find a way to save $15,000 dollars to replace them.
Right now, Ahmed is relying on disability payments to survive. However, they are nowhere near enough to pay for rent, food, car payments, and other basic necessities. A few months after his work accident, Ahmed was evicted and now lives in a motel that he pays solely out of his disability checks.The disability payments are only a quarter of what he used to make and cannot sustain him permanently.
Yet despite all his obstacles and traumatic history, Ahmed keeps his faith strong. Throughout our conversation, God was consistently on the man’s lips. He believes that God tests people with only what they can take, and “I can take the pain,” he explains without any anger. Ahmed does not hold any anger for what has happened to him. “I am a Muslim; I have to forgive,” he adds, “ If God is all merciful, who am I not to forgive?”
All Ahmed wants is to move forward- to work again and rebuild his life. He dreams of opening a restaurant full of home cooked, Syrian food. “I can cook anything,” he says proudly, "you name it." As I continued to hear his story, I learned that Ahmed’s passions lie in not only food but nutrition. He shared his best secrets to longevity with me, which included a shot of lemon juice and olive oil every morning. “The really good olive oil,” he emphasizes. Pomegranates renew the skin tissue and red bell peppers “clean your veins like a natural car wash.” He even keeps a jar of red pepper powder and a water bottle in his car to drink everyday to prevent heart disease. “There is more Vitamin C in a red bell pepper than there is in a lemon,” he explains, "that is why I haven’t been sick in over 25 years!”
It was clear his passion lies with food and health; it is why he made sure to find a motel suite with a kitchen. I can only imagine what impact his disabled hands and lack of front teeth could have on his dream, because if they did, he did not want to show it. Not allowing his tragic history to define who he is now, Ahmed offered to make a plate of Foul for the office, giving back to the community who has helped him while sharing his passions for healthy eating and cuisine. By the end of our interview I found myself not only thanking him for his time and efforts retelling his story but also for the inspiring messages of faith and humility that he taught me, as well as the intriguing nutrition facts that I wrote down and didn't want to forget. And now, thanks to Ahmed, I'm off to find pomegranates.
