Following the Philanthropic Example Set by My Family
Mar 6, 2019
I’m a Palestinian-American born and raised in the city of Anabta, in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory of the West Bank. Anabta, known for its vast olive groves, and recognized for its highly educated residents and their contributions in the arts, literature and sciences, is in the northern West Bank, on the main highway between Nablus…
Read MoreDetermining Our Own Destiny in Palestine and Beyond
by Gene ZaidDec 10, 2018
From the Refugee Camp to the United States I was born in Jalazone Refugee Camp in 1951 (north of Ramallah in the West Bank). My parents came from a village near Lod called Beit Nabala but became refugees along with my grandparents, uncles and aunts after the 1948 war. My family now lives in refugee…
Read MoreI have never forgotten this humane and creative organization
Nov 1, 2018
I was born in Rochester, Minnesota, where my father was a staff doctor at the Mayo Clinic. My mother was from a Navy family. As a young woman she joined the Red Cross at the start of WWII. She was sent to a Naval hospital in Algeria, where she met my father. Her unit followed…
Read MoreHonoring my parents by giving back
by Awad Da’MesOct 4, 2018
I have lived with my family in the Shenandoah Valley area of Virginia for the last four decades ever since we moved there from New York in 1978. We were the first Muslim family in the region. I have lived in the U.S. for the better part of 60 years – but my formative years…
Read MoreBlessed in My Activism
by Elaine KinchSep 6, 2018
I’ve been concerned about justice and human rights since I was young. I became an activist after I began raising my children. For me, if people’s rights are violated, if they are systematically impoverished, then there can be no sustainable peace. One of my professors at the University of Wisconsin saw me at a demonstration…
Read MoreThree Generations of Support: Our Family & Anera
by Betty SamsAug 9, 2018
In August of 1967, 50 people from all over the U.S. came to our home in Bethesda, Maryland for dinner. It was two months after the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, and they represented the many different committees that had mobilized to raise and send aid to the Palestinians, both those who were suffering under occupation and…
Read MoreThe Plight of Palestinian Refugees Was Imprinted on My Mind
by Ann KerrJul 5, 2018
Seeing the world has been my lifelong passion. I started travelling when I was a college student. For some unknown reason, I thought about studying in India but my parents tried to steer me toward Europe. Our minister talked about Lebanon and my parents agreed to let me study at the American University of Beirut.…
Read MoreGaza Block Parties Bring Minnesotans Together to Help Palestinians
by Karmel SabriJun 7, 2018
I am a Minnesota native but my family comes from Qalqiliya in the West Bank. And, though I live 6,000 miles from Palestine, the terrible situation there is real to me. I suspect that all of us who support Anera have this feeling in common. In the wake of the 2014 war on Gaza, I…
Read MoreTo Whom Much is Given, Much is Asked
by Murad SiamApr 5, 2018
A little over 15 years ago, my parents’ home in California burned to the ground. I drove up as the rubble was being cleared away and asked the workers to stop so I could rummage through and see what was salvageable. In a small frayed pouch I found all of my deceased father’s documents from…
Read MoreI’ve never left that hospital room in Burj El Barajneh
by Ellen SiegelMar 1, 2018
I was born toward the end of the Holocaust. I went to Hebrew school, marked all the Jewish holidays, and then went to a Jewish school of nursing. In 1967, I was asked to go volunteer in Israel. I didn’t know much about the politics there, but I heard there were Palestinians who were living…
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