By JOEL ELLIOTT
Staff Writer Thursday, March 08, 2007

enlarge Staff photo by Jim Evans

New Thomas College student Dan Azad, left, and his resident adviser Brendan Flint pose on the Waterville campus Wednesday. Azad left Baghdad, Iraq, on a scholarship to the school.

enlarge Staff photo by Jim Evans

New Thomas College student Dan Azad speaks about leaving Baghdad, Iraq, on a scholarship to the Waterville school on Wednesday.

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Azad arrived in Waterville this weekend courtesy of New York benefactor Paul Schupf and begins classes today.

Of the 2 million Iraqis who have fled the country since the war began in 2003, according to the United Nations, the United States has accepted fewer than 500.

Azad, 18, said he will prove that Schupf and the people in Maine who helped bring him here had done the right thing in helping him become one of the lucky few Iraqi refugees to have been allowed into the country.

"I will make everyone proud of me," he said during a press conference at the West River Road college campus. "I will make a good future here at Thomas College, because students don't have a future in Baghdad."

Azad left behind his mother, father and younger brother. When his 17-year-old brother graduates from high school, Azad said, the family plans to travel to Kurdistan, where the violence is not nearly so intense.

Azad plans to return to Iraq when he finishes college, and wants to do some sort of constructive work in his homeland.

"I want to help my country," he said. "But how, I don't know, because it's hard to help a country without a government."

Civil war is devastating Iraq, and shooting and explosions were a common occurrence near Baghdad's Ballet and Music School, Azad's former high school of 75 students. Many of his friends have fled to other countries to escape the killings.

Hope entered Azad's world after Schupf saw the Iraqi youth's profile on "ABC World News Tonight" and began making inquiries as to how he could bring him to the United States. An ABC reporter told Azad of Schupf's plans to pay for his trip and education.

"When I hung up the phone, I was screaming in the house," he said. "But at the same time, I did not believe it."

At first it seemed like a mixed blessing. Azad's family began to fear that he might become a target as news of his good fortune began to circulate.

Their fears heightened when Azad had two close brushes with would-be abductors. One time, on the way home from school, a car pulled up beside him with four men who tried to force him to come with them. Instead, Azad ran away, finally evading the men.

It became clear that, if Azad was going to make it out of the country, he would need to do it quickly. As Schupf made arrangements to pay his tuition at Thomas College, U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins did what they could to expedite the process for him to obtain a student visa in Jordan.

ABC moved Azad to the relative safety of its Baghdad campus for a couple of weeks prior to his departure.

At last, he was able to make the trip.

Traveling from a country where different sects of the same religion are blowing each other up on a daily basis, Azad said he was apprehensive about meeting people from a different culture.

"I thought I would not be welcome with the students in Maine, because I'm from a different country," he said. "But now, there is a different thought in my mind."

Azad said he feels more comfortable now that he has toured the Thomas campus and met faculty and students, including his new roommate. He will be staying on campus in dormitory rooms along with other first-year students, according to campus spokeswoman Rhonda Morin.

The transplanted freshman plans to study computer information services, beginning classes today. Entering classes five weeks into the semester, he has assumed a full course load for which he will receive credit in addition to several courses he will be auditing.

Besides trying to get used to the cold weather and settling into his course work, Azad said it will take time to become accustomed to the relative tranquility of Maine.

"In Baghdad, we don't go out during the day," he said. "I guess we don't have life in Baghdad. The dark became our best friend."

Joel Elliott -- 861-9252

jelliott@centralmaine.com