The Pakistani-American community in Houston, Texas, has rallied around a Pakistani female student who was severely injured by a hit-and-run driver and lying in pain in intensive treatment at a hospital, according to media reports.
Dania Zaheer, 25, was crossing the street near a Houston shopping centre on Sept 7 when a man behind the wheel of a vehicle hit her and drove off.
He has still not been found.
Interviewed by a television reporter, Dania, who looked battered, spoke through an oxygen mask, said, “I have a broken pelvis, broken arm, broken femur, broken hip, skull fractures, a broken eye socket, and fluid in my lungs, which makes it hard to breathe.”
Dania had left her family behind in Karachi a few months ago to earn her master’s degree in business administration in Houston. She said she thought she would face recovery alone, but fortunately, some local organizations are jumping in to help. “To see somebody who is about the same age as my daughter laid up and crying like that and in pain, it was very painful to see,” Salman Razzaqi, president of the Pakistani Association of Greater Houston, said after visiting her.
Police said they still have no leads on who hit Ms. Zaheer. They have a witness who saw what happened, but he couldn’t provide the suspect’s description.
Detectives are still looking for video, but they have yet to find any since ABC13′- TV’s last call.
She suffered a myriad of injuries in the crash.
When Razzaqi watched ABC13’s interview on Thursday with Ms. Zaheer, he rallied together community leaders and even Pakistan’s Consul General Aftab Chaudhry visited her.
“I think she is coming back to normal. She saw this response, help, support and heard comforting words from all of us,” Razzaqi said. “Our goal is to get her back on her feet, go back to college, get her degree, and find her American dream.”
One of the people now in Ms. Zaheer’s corner is Houston businessman Ali Sheikhani. He said that through a foundation that started in memory of his late mother, he plans to do everything to help Ms. Zaheer.
“I told her, ‘Please, focus on your health. Don’t worry about the (finances). We will take care of the (finances). We will talk to her mom and dad (and) pay for school fees. We will take care of everything,'” Sheikhani, CEO of Sheikhani Group Inc., said.
When she spoke from the hospital, she had no idea how she could get through recovery.
“I am all alone here. I have no one here, not even someone to take care of me. I don’t even know after getting out of the hospital who will be there,” Ms. Zaheer said.
In a touching turn of events, a plan is now in motion to fly Ms. Zaheer’s parents to Houston.
“We’ll talk to our attorney and try to get them a visa as fast as we can,” Sheikhani said.
Ms. Zaheer, still very weak, told ABC13 that she is thankful for all the support. She asks for privacy and for the public to let trusted organizations take it from here.
“We will do everything in our power to make sure she gets through this. I think she will be back to normal in no time,” Razzaqi said.
