American Comes To Aid of Injured Young Arabs
phil...@my-deja.com
Below is an article that appeared on the front page of today's
north-jersey herald and news.....in addition to this piece, there
are four other exclusive reports written from Palestine by staff
writer Hilary Burke, one dealing with Ramadan, another with the
Holy Land Foundation's work in Hebron, and the last two discussing
Jerusalem and the struggles of "Israeli Arabs"......to view those
articles go to: http://www.zwire.com/news/newslist.cfm?brd=1154
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American Comes To Aid of Injured Young Arabs
Dec 21 2000
By Hilary Burke & Photo By Lisa Kyle Herald News
GAZA STRIP - The young man sits cross-legged on his bed, a
well-concealed catheter running from his body to a half-filled bag of
urine resting on the floor. His bedroom doubles as a parlor and TV room
for the 17 family members sharing the house, a concrete structure
situated in the Jabalia Refugee Camp. <[stk -4]>When he was 14, Atef
Makussy was shot twice in the shoulder by Israeli soldiers who attacked
some 3,000 Hamas supporters gathered at a memorial service held for a
"martyr" of the intifada. Reuters reported that three people were killed
and 35 wounded in that incident on May 18, 1993.<[etk]>
One of those shot to death was Makussy's 18-year-old brother, Awni.
Makussy found himself paralyzed from the waist down; his right arm was
partially paralyzed as well. He was treated in four medical centers in
Israel and the West Bank before Ohio native Steve Sosebee arranged for
his surgery at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Paterson.
In 1990, Sosebee founded the Palestine Children's Relief Fund, or PCRF,
a nonprofit group dedicated to arranging free, specialized medical
procedures for Arab children. Makussy ended up at St. Joseph's through
the help of Farid El-Asmar and Dr. Nazmi Elrabie, two Paterson
professionals still active in the group.
Sosebee relies on Passaic County's Palestinian-American community for
funding and support. Local volunteers house children for several days,
helping them adjust to life away from their families until they travel
on to cities where they will receive treatment.
"The North Jersey community is probably one of the best in the States
for us to work in," said Sosebee, 35. "There are a lot of well-off
businessmen, and a lot of them are very interested in doing something
for their people in Palestine."
Sosebee was working as a free-lance journalist during the first intifada
when, in November 1989, he met Mansour Abu Sneineh, an 11-year-old boy
who had lost both legs, a hand and an eye to violence. The boy was
injured when Israeli soldiers lobbed an anti-tank grenade at his family
while they ate lunch outside their home in Hebron, Sosebee said.
In his home state of Ohio, Sosebee found a doctor who agreed to treat
the boy and his sister at no charge. Soon after, Sosebee formed the
relief fund to provide specialized medical care to Palestinian children
who suffer war-related injuries.
"I thought this is a good way to contribute to the struggle and provide
a humanitarian service at the same time," Sosebee said about the
Palestinian struggle to end Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West
Bank.
Sosebee, his wife and daughter live four months of the year in Kent,
Ohio; the rest of their time is spent in Ramallah. A tall,
broad-shouldered man who wears stylish sunglasses, he often drives his
red Audi through the dusty, rough roads of the West Bank.
"I could be back in Ohio watching the NBA every night and eating
popcorn," he said, "but I still truly believe that I want to dedicate my
life to this type of struggle."
Since 1990, the Palestine Children's Relief Fund has sent some 130
youths to the United States for treatment. After the first intifada in
1993, Sosebee expanded the group's focus to include surgery for
congenital heart defects and accidental injuries. The fund also arranged
for a medical team to perform cataract surgeries in the refugee camps of
Lebanon.
Since 1997, the group has brought European and American medical teams to
the West Bank and Gaza to perform surgeries that are otherwise
unavailable.
"A lot of children are dying needlessly because they don't have access
to care," Sosebee said. "The idea is to train local doctors and nurses,
to get them to do the procedures themselves."
Nurses at the Intensive Care Unit in Ramallah Hospital now know how to
handle post-operative problems of children who have undergone cardiac
surgery, after having worked with visiting pediatric cardiac surgeons,
Sosebee explained. A relief fund team trained doctors at the eye
hospital in Gaza to perform a procedure known as an "Ahmed Valve," an
implant for pediatric glaucoma cases.
The group's 2001 budget of nearly $300,000 allocates funds for medical
teams to perform heart, eye and plastic surgery throughout the Middle
East. Other money will be used to send children to the United States,
Belgium and Italy for treatment.
Sosebee estimates that 10 to 15 percent of the budget would be raised in
North Jersey.
The fund's ability to bring medical teams to the West Bank and Gaza has
already been affected by the intifada.
A team of cardiac surgeons from Boston was scheduled to arrive in
mid-November to operate on children with heart disease. But because
Palestinian hospitals are besieged by trauma cases, elective surgeries
cannot be performed, Sosebee said.
"I can't bring teams here, not because they're afraid," Sosebee said,
"but because we can't tie up the beds in intensive care, and we can't
tie up the tables in the operating room."
Since the second intifada began in October, the Palestine Children's
Relief Fund has had to shift back to its original mission: providing
emergency medical relief for children suffering war-related injuries.
Alaa Badran, 12, spent a week in Clifton before traveling on Dec. 7 to
Sacramento to be fitted with a synthetic eyeball. Alaa was struck in the
eye with a rubber-coated bullet during clashes between Kalandia refugee
camp residents and Israeli troops, Farid El-Asmar said.
The boy was constantly in tears during his first three days in the
United States, said El-Asmar, his host. For young children, being so far
away from home can be very traumatic.
"When they're very homesick, we make phone calls to the family once,
twice, even three times a day," said El-Asmar, the relief fund's
treasurer.
"I know how he feels. I came to this country when I was 14 years of age
on a student visa," El-Asmar said. "At night, when I used to think about
my family, I used to put my head against the wall to stop thinking about
them."
El-Asmar first heard about Sosebee and the Palestine Children's Relief
Fund in 1991, when a cousin of his was shot three times just above one
knee, nearly severing his leg. Sosebee helped coordinate his cousin's
surgery in the United States.
Afterward, Sosebee called on El-Asmar to buy plane tickets for two
children seeking treatment. From his accounting office on Main Street,
El-Asmar raised the $1,760 in a matter of hours. A month later, Sosebee
called again, this time asking for $2,500 for another two tickets.
El-Asmar delivered.
When El-Asmar addresses potential donors at mosques, he urges them to be
as generous as Sosebee, an American from Ohio.
"Whether he's Muslim or not, whether he's religious or not, whether he's
Palestinian or not, it doesn't make a difference," El-Asmar said. "I'm
convinced that he's going to go to heaven."
While El-Asmar has raised tens of thousands of dollars for the relief
fund over the years, he and Sosebee have not had as much success
drumming up support from North Jersey's medical community.
"There is not the same positive feedback from the hospitals and doctors
there as in other parts of the country, for whatever reason," Sosebee
said. "It's a shame, because the community is excellent."
Sosebee said that physicians in New Jersey are the least likely to
respond to his letters and e-mails seeking help for specific children.
"I have no idea why," he said.
In the United States, children receive treatment more often in places
such as Chicago, California and Texas.
Makussy, a sweet-faced 21-year-old, said he will always consider New
Jersey his American home. He spent eight months in rehabilitation there
before rejoining his family in Jabalia.
He said that he experiences less pain than before, but he never fully
regained control of his right arm. Makussy said he hopes Sosebee can
arrange surgery for him again to combat the paralysis.
But even if Sosebee does nothing else for him, Makussy said he would be
grateful.
"If Steve asked for my life, I would give it to him," Makussy declared
through an interpreter.
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