When 18-year-old Lava Barwari stood on the stage at graduation, her grin was not solely from pride in completing her high school education but the reality a man who once saved her life had today come back into it.
Lava was just 36-days-old when her mother, Awaz, was standing with her husband at the Iraqi border in 1996 attempting to escape the country and it’s leader, Saddam Hussein, whose kill list she was on.
Awaz worked for an American non-government company, which led to the US agreeing to help her escape. However, when she arrived at the border they would not let her newborn – whose name was not on the list – escape with her. She would have to leave her in Iraq.
And then a US soldier, Greg Peppin walked up to the new mother.
“What’s her name?,” Pepin asked her.
“Lava,” said Awaz.
“That’s a beautiful name, but today, that’s not her name,” said Pepin. “Her name is Greg Pepin.”
And Greg Pepin walked the new – and much smaller – ‘Greg Pepin’ across the border, using his passport to get her out of the country.
The family then slept in a tent in Turkey for two nights, later travelling to Guam and then Hawaii.
Now living in Georgia, 18-year-old Lava told Gwinnett Daily Post her reunion with Pepin made graduating at Mill Creek High School a day she will never forget.
“This very day may have been the most impressive thing to have ever happened to me. I finally get to meet the man who single-handedly saved and changed my life forever. And if it was not for writing in my journal in Mrs. Waddell’s class, and telling the story to Mary, I may have never tried to get in touch with him.”
Lava emailed Pepin after the class, and encouragement from her friend.
It took her a month to find his email address, but was worth every bit of the wait.
“It’s an honor for me to be here and see a family like this be a success,” Pepin told the Gwinnett Daily Post.
“This is not a one time (thing). They’re stuck with me.”
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