thought on love: It is Valentine’s Day. On this day we celebrate love in all shapes and forms: love towards family members, friends, colleagues, and children. We celebrate our love of life and show that we are determined to triumph over hardship. I found no better way...
I received a book in the mail: The Jester Has Lost His Jingle. The box had no sender. It was a children’s book… I sat down to read it. It did not take me long to find out who sent it: my dear friend Rama Chakaki.The books we like define us. This is how the story goes:...
Transforming loss to legacy: two years ago I reached out to pay my respects to Rasha, Ammar Al-Shami’s mother. A few days earlier, I had moved to Boulder Colorado and was looking forward to meeting Ammar. Instead, I found myself dogsitting Ayala, his golden retriever...
Second chances story: Ammar’s fund was created a year after his tragic death on January 11, 2017. The fund honors Ammar’s memory by providing help to refugee students whose lives were disrupted by conflicts in Syria and Palestine. But Ammar’s fund took a life unto its...
Snapshot from meetingProject Turquoise team in Zaatari campProject Turquoise Youth with Zataari Camp YouthSnapshot from the meeting A few years ago, a group of youth and their families traveled from DC to Jordan and visited Zaatari camp. They met with youth their age,...