For Palestinian refugees, a good education is the ticket to a better life of hope and opportunity. The Hope Fund in the U.S. is turning that dream into reality for many in the Palestinian refugee camps throughout Palestine and the Arab World. Based in Virginia, the Hope Fund is a small, non-profit organization which has raised millions of dollars for scholarships.
The idea for the Hope Fund was triggered after an article in the Washington Post by the journalist Geraldine Brooks. In her article, “Peace in His Time–A Young Man’s Desperate Dreaming in the Holy Land,” Brooks followed the life of a young Palestinian man over a 10-year span. Ultimately, she supported him through his college education.
Dr. Fahim Qubain, born in Jordan but educated in Palestine, saw that article and soon after established the charitable organization to help make education possible for other Palestinian youth.
To read a few of the testimonies of those whose lives changed, please see: http://www.thehopefund.org/voices.html
In a 2007 interview with the Washington Report for Middle East Affairs, Dr. Qubain said the potential was two-fold: the organization provides Palestinian refugees with an extremely unique and beneficial opportunity to gain a high-quality education abroad, and it also allows them to learn about Americans.
The Hope Fund has been featured in a number of news sources, including Oprah Winfrey’s magazine, “Oprah,”http://www.oprah.com/world/The-Hope-Fund-100-to-a-Dynamic-Non-Profit
