Touched by the story of a young refugee who loves to read, Esther ‘Essy’ Davidowitz, 87, of Kingston persevered until she found a way to delivery a gift of books to the little girl.
                                 Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader

Touched by the story of a young refugee who loves to read, Esther ‘Essy’ Davidowitz, 87, of Kingston persevered until she found a way to delivery a gift of books to the little girl.

Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader

Kingston woman sends books to young girl who fled Taliban

Tired of ads? Subscribers enjoy a distraction-free reading experience.
Click here to subscribe today or Login.

This is a story about tenacity and a love of books, as well as kindness to a little girl that Esther “Essy” Davidowitz probably will never meet.

It’s also a story about the satisfaction you feel when you’ve reached a goal.

“You can accomplish something and be useful, even without leaving your home,” said Davidowitz, 87, of Kingston, smiling on Friday morning as she took a final look at a box of books designed for young readers.

With help from the Osterhout Free Library as well as from U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright’s Chief of Staff Hunter Ridgway, Davidowitz is confident that some carefully selected books — from inauguration poet Amanda Gorman’s “Change Sings” to a just-for-fun copy of “101 Dalmatians” — are on their way to a young girl, a refugee from a war-torn country, who is now in the United States, and who loves to read.

But arranging the delivery took weeks of telephone calls, and hearing various people say “That’s such a lovely idea, BUT …”

“I was getting tired of hearing that,” Davidowitz admitted.

The local woman, who is a great-grandmother and daily battles the effects of Parkinson’s Disease, learned about the little girl several weeks ago when she read a New York Times article about the child’s family.

The article explained the girl’s father had been murdered by the Taliban for the crime of working for the United States, and as the family sought to evacuate Afghanistan, the 8-year-old girl was injured by an exploding tear-gas canister.

Safely in the United States, the girl was treated for her burns. And, the NYT article mentioned, she was reading everything she could get her hands on.

That last bit of information spoke to Davidowitz’s heart. She has always loved books. And she would love to give books to any child, especially one so eager to read and learn.

But how would she get them to the child?

A captain at the Air Force Base where the child had been taken said Davidowitz was very kind, but the base could not accept gifts on behalf of refugees. A public affairs person at the health care facility said the gift was a wonderful idea, but they could not act as a go-between. An email that a Times Leader reporter tried to send to the New York Times reporter on Davidowitz’s behalf went unanswered.

Eventually, Davidowitz appealed to a physician, daughter of a long-time friend, who works in the Southwest. The doctor gave Davidowitz a list of people she thought might help, which led Davidowitz to speak to a librarian in Santa Fe. The librarian suggested a U.S. Senator or Congressional Representative might be able to arrange a delivery.

Aided by that clue, Davidowitz contacted U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright, who asked his Chief of Staff Hunter Ridgway to facilitate the delivery. Contacted last week by a reporter, Ridgway said he was happy to act as a go-between, and would be delivering them to another go-between who would make sure the child — who has been discharged from the hospital — gets them.

Osterhout Free Library executive director Rick Miller offered a donation of any books Davidowitz wanted to send, but she insisted she wanted to pay.

“Children’s books are two for $1 in the Friends of the Library book shop,” Davidowitz said. “That’s certainly very reasonable.”

Indeed, for a small amount of money, Davidowitz found herself with a stack of 15 books, most of them from the library’s book shop. They range from fairy tales that most children in the United States have grown up hearing, to “The Three Questions,” which is a fable based on a story by Leo Tolstoy, to a book about “The Bird Who Was Afraid of Heights,” which was written by Davidowitz’s own niece, Laurie Tevlin-Klemow.

Daidowitz would have liked to send more, but she said Ridgway asked that she send no more books than an armload one person could comfortably carry.

As she gathered books, Davidowitz made sure the mix included a book of inspiration she believes the little girl’s mother might enjoy, as well as one or two books a brother might enjoy. On Friday morning, just before the books went to the Osterhout Library, where Miller had offered to pack them up and send them to Ridgway, Davidowitz spent some time thinking of a short, encouraging messages to write inside each book. A reporter printed the messages in the books, since writing is not as easy for Davidowitz as it once was.

Parkinson’s Disease may have hampered her handwriting, but it hasn’t dampened her determination, or her zeal for sensing a need and filling it.