Hanan Awad: 'Children's joy is my reward'

Hanan Awad is both American and Palestinian. She lives in Abu Dhabi, but every summer visits a Ramallah refugee camp, running programmes and arranging much-needed medical care for youngsters

Hanan Awad at home in Abu Dhabi. She takes her three sons to Ramallah "to help them know where they're from".

ABU DHABI // With her New Jersey twang, Hanan Awad is obviously American. But it is in Palestine where she has roots and where she feels most at home. Unlike the thousands of refugees around the world who are no longer allowed to return to their homeland, Mrs Awad can pass in and out freely, thanks to her American passport.

She grew up there, living with her mother and eight siblings in Deir Debwan, a small village outside Ramallah in the West Bank, between the ages of three and 16, while her father worked in the United States to provide for the family. These days, the 36-year-old mother of three young boys has dedicated herself to helping sick and injured children who live in the Palestinian territories. She volunteers full-time as a co-ordinator for the UAE's branch of the Palestine Children's Relief Fund (PCRF), arranging to bring children for medical treatment in the UAE.

"When it comes to PCRF, it is a team effort," she said. "Nobody could have done what we've achieved over the past two or three years alone. "People like my friend and colleague Iman Odeh have made this whole thing possible. She is like my other half in this. I get the children over here and, when they're here, she makes sure they're taken care of. "But there are so many people involved, from doctors giving their time to volunteers who take these children into their homes."

At 22, she married Jamal, a doctor, after a "very traditional upbringing". When they headed to Dubai with their children four years ago, it was the first time she left her parents and siblings. Every year since she has made it her personal mission to go to Ramallah, where she runs one of 50 three-week summer programmes for about 70 children living in Al Amari refugee camp in Ramallah. Some of them have special needs or are disabled, but all are suffering under abject poverty.

Mrs Awad always makes sure she takes her children along. "It's the least I can do for my kids to help them know where they're from. Our identity is kind of lost in a way. We are American-Palestinian, and if we don't go back and teach them what it is, it will be very difficult for them growing up." Mrs Awad's family left for New Jersey after the First Intifada began. But before they moved, however, she learned first-hand about curfews, blackouts, food shortages and roadblocks.

"For my family, it was much easier than for many others," she says. "The city would be open for just two hours some days. We would watch the news all the time." The experience sowed the first seeds of what would later become her passion. "I wanted to do this before I got married," she recalls. "Before I even had my own children." In the US, she first heard about the PCRF as a teenager, when she came into contact with one of their cases, Deya Ali, from Nablus in the Occupied West Bank. The teenager was on his way home from school when he was shot in the back by Israeli troops. When the ambulance came, they thought he was dead but managed to stabilise him. Steve Sosebee, the PCRF's founder, took him to New Jersey to be operated on.

"His case made me feel that I wanted to be more involved, to be a part of the PCRF," she said. Mr Sosebee, who further encouraged her, said: "Hanan has a huge heart and she is always concerned about the needs and welfare of helping others. "She has spent countless hours volunteering for our kids from Palestine, enabling us to bring them for medical care that they otherwise would not get. Many of these children owe their lives for Hanan's dedication and hard work."

Mrs Awad, who now lives in Abu Dhabi, started out in Dubai organising pizza parties for the children brought in for treatment. The charity has tackled 40 such cases in her four years, ranging from eye surgery to kids needing to be fitted for prosthetic limbs. She is now looking for volunteers to join her this summer in her next camp, which she hopes will be even larger than the last. "I do this for the kids," she said. "The joy it brings them is more than a reward for me."

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