[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 212 (Wednesday, December 8, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1340]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         HONORING RAVI S. PATEL

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ELISSA SLOTKIN

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, December 8, 2021

  Ms. SLOTKIN. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Ravi Patel, a 
valued member of our effort to evacuate Afghan nationals from Kabul to 
Tirana, Albania.
  Mr. Patel has worked in several areas for several key players in the 
international arena, working as an advisor to former Secretary of 
Defense William J. Perry as well as serving as the consulting advisor 
for the executive director of the UN's Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban 
Treaty Organization. As a graduate student, he was the executive 
director of the Stanford University U.S.-Russia Forum, where he put on 
conferences, in Moscow and on Stanford's campus, in order to bring 
together students and young leaders from both countries and further the 
bilateral relationship.
  Mr. Patel has always believed in the power of thinking outside the 
box to find solutions. The buses that he sourced were ultimately used 
to carry more than 100 individuals to safety in their hour of greatest 
need. As they made it through winding Kabul streets until they made it 
inside the gate at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Mr. Patel was in 
close coordination with our team. He was Lt.Gen. McMaster's point 
person on our joint effort to evacuate them on a flight out of Kabul as 
well, helping to compile the flight manifest that airlifted men, women, 
and children--some as young as 2 years old--away from danger.
  In fact, when one of our evacuees, a four-year old with a severe 
congenital heart defect, needed urgent medical attention, Mr. Patel 
sprang into action. He gathered letters of support from some of the top 
pediatric doctors and surgeons in order to bring her to the U.S. for 
treatment. Thanks to his relentless pursuit chasing down leads through 
every available channel, the little girl and her family were granted 
humanitarian parole and admitted to Children's Hospital of 
Philadelphia.
  Madam Speaker, I rise to honor Mr. Ravi Patel for his willingness to 
go above and beyond the call of duty in our effort to evacuate Afghan 
allies from Kabul and support them in their new life. For his 
resourcefulness amidst the fog of uncertainty and the chaos of the 
evacuation as well as for his tireless work in the weeks since, I 
submit these words--may they stand as a tribute to his dedicated 
service when the moment called for it most.

                          ____________________