<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Occupied Palestine | فلسطين]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[occupiedpalestine]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/author/hajarhajar/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[Volunteer group helping Palestinian children &#8211; The&nbsp;National]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p class="byline"><a href="http://www.thenational.ae/featured-content/authors/manal-ismail">Manal Ismail</a></p>
<p class="last-updated">Last Updated:  Jan 17, 2011</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>DUBAI // Khalil al Jedaili lost his legs during  Israel&#8217;s attack on Gaza in 2009, when he and 10 other family members ran  to his grandmother&#8217;s house for shelter. One of his brothers was killed  and Khalil was buried under the rubble of the house.</p>
<p>However, Khalil did not allow this physical challenge to impede his  ambitions. The young man is the first Arab double amputee to receive a  diving certification and spends time in the coral reefs of the Gulf  making underwater discoveries.</p>
<p>His recovery was possible because the Palestine Children&#8217;s Relief  Fund (PCRF), a non-profit volunteer organisation, sent Khalil to Dubai  for treatment last March.</p>
<p>Rama Chakaki, the national co-ordinator for the UAE chapter, cited  Khalil&#8217;s story as one of many accomplishments that can be credited to  the fund and its volunteers.</p>
<p>Together with Steve Sosebee, the fund&#8217;s founder, Ms Chakaki called on  members of the audience at the PCRF 2011 volunteer kick-off in Al Quoz  at the weekend to lend a helping hand to the organisation&#8217;s cause, which  is to provide children diagnosed with serious illnesses with treatment  that they cannot receive in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.</p>
<p>Mr Sosebee said that buying the tickets and getting the children to the hospital is the easy part.</p>
<p>&#8220;Taking care of the children and making sure they are receiving their  follow-up treatments is all a very difficult process that requires the  hard work and support of our volunteers,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Our success depends  on them.&#8221;</p>
<p>Volunteers also include internationally qualified doctors, who provide their services at no charge.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&#8220;Our focus in 2011 is to send more teams than we did last year,&#8221;  Mr Sosebee said. Last year, the fund ran 60 missions and treated more  than 2,000 children.</p>
<p>The UAE has been the fund&#8217;s most active chapter, with 51 children  treated for serious illnesses in the last four years, including  orthopaedic surgeries and eye implants, in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. In 2010  alone, 10 children were treated.</p>
<p>Overall, the relief fund has provided medical services valued at $100m.</p>
<p>Plans for this year, Mr Sosebee said, include a 13-bedroom paediatric  oncology centre, which will be part of Al Hussein Hospital in the West  Bank.</p>
<p>But alongside the work of treatment and construction, people are needed to support patients and their families.</p>
<p>&#8220;We can complain about the occupation, we can demand change and  resist in a peaceful manner, which we should, but we have to do what we  can now to have an impact on people&#8217;s lives,&#8221; Mr Sosebee said.&#8221;It&#8217;s not  enough to talk, we have to act.&#8221;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>mismail [at] thenational.ae</p>
<p><a href="http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/volunteer-group-helping-palestinian-children">Volunteer group helping Palestinian children &#8211; The National</a>.</p>
]]></html></oembed>