Auburn resident and community leader Fowsia Musse has had one of her legs amputated after being shot by a federal police officer at an airport in Ethiopia on Oct. 25.
Her family is raising to money to pay for an air ambulance to fly Musse back to the U.S. for continued medical treatment.
Musse was visiting family in the Somali region of Ethiopia. At the airport in the regional capital, a police officer shot and killed Musse's sister, Juweria Subcis, a member of the regional parliament.
Musse was transferred to Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital city, where she underwent surgery to remove her leg.
One of Musse's daughters, Shadia Abdulahi, has started a GoFundMe page to help cover the $178,000 cost of an air ambulance to fly her mother to the U.S. where she can continue receiving care.
In a post on that fundraising page on Monday, Abdulahi, who is in the U.S., said she had spoken by phone with her mother. She wrote that Musse had been able to verbally consent to the amputation.
Abdulahi also wrote that Musse is "An incredibly strong woman."
Musse, who is from Somalia, is the executive director of Maine Community Integration, a nonprofit that focuses on education and empowering immigrant girls.
In a statement, MCI said Musse is a resilient and capable leader, who "is an incredible force for positive change in Maine. Fowsia leads with kindness and compassion, working with unbounding resolve to advocate for marginalized people of all ages, races, and nationalities."
