History

The Background • How it Works • Future

The Background:

The inspiration for the Hope Fund came from an article in the Washington Post by the journalist Geraldine Brooks. The article, "Peace in His Time--A Young Man's Desperate Dreaming in the Holy Land" chronicled her ten year relationship with Raed, a "child of the stones" whom she met while covering the violence of the first intifada, and ended up supporting through his college education.

Soon after the article appeared in the Post magazine on February 14, 1999, Dr. Fahim Qubain started exploring the possibility of establishing some mechanism to help educate other children like Raed, living in the poorest and most desperate corners of the region's refugee camps.

Dr. Qubain and his wife Nancy established The Hope Fund Corporation, which was recognized on June 20, 2000 by the IRS as a charitable public organization with a tax-exempt status under Section (501) ( C ) (3 ) of the Internal Revenue Code. Donations by individuals and corporate bodies to the Hope Fund are tax deductible.

Amideast (American Mideast Educational and Training Services), an American educational organization headquartered in Washington, DC, with some 30 field offices in various parts of the Middle East, acts as our agent for the selection of Hope Fund prospective students. This service is provided free of charge.

In 2001 we welcomed our first two two students, Mr. Khaled El-Nemr and Ms.Hanan Dahche. Despite immense political and economic obstacles, these two outstanding young people had brilliant academic records from their UNWRA high school, but absolutely no chance of pursing higher studies without our help. In what would become the model for the Fund, Roanoke College generously supplied full scholarships for the students, while the Hope Fund covered travel, insurance, incidentals such as books and laptops and initial social support. These two students graduated Cum Laude in May 2005, Khaled in Physics and Math, Hanan in Bio-chemistry. They left behind them a brilliant scholastic record.  Since September 2005 they have been in graduate schools for Ph.D degrees, Khaled at at the University of Alabama at Huntsville in engineering; Hanan in bio-chemistry at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. Both received substantial graduate fellowships more than adequate to meet their needs.

In 2004 Bridgewater College accepted two students, Mohammad Mansour and Mohammad Haroun who arrived in January 2004. They both came from a Palestinian Authority school in Rafah, Gaza, one of the harshest situations for Palestinian refugees. Mansour had to return home for personal reasons. Haroun now graduating with a physics degree.

Two more students arrived in January 2005, both from refugee camps in Lebanon. Randolph-Macon Women's College provided a scholarship to Marwa Abdel Latif, who is majoring in chemistry and biology. Mohammad El Charfa became the third Hope scholar to be granted a scholarship by Roanoke College. He is graduating with Mathematics and Computer Sciences degrees. Finally, Washington & Lee University granted the Hope Fund a four year scholarship for Malik al-Haj, a Palestinian refugee from Amman, Jordan. He is majoring in physics and computer science.

In 2006 we had four more arrivals: Abed Abu Laban is attending Bridgewater College, Manal Zaher is attending Bryn Mwar College, Hiba Assi is attending Washington and Lee University, and Shireen Abu Khairan is attending Bridgewater College. The four students are doing extremely well in their studies.

In 2007 we had three more arrivals: Hanan Abu Shanab is attending Hollins University, Nidal Al-Aysa is attending Swarthmore University, and Mahmoud Saleh is attending Guilford College. As all of the Hope Fund students, the three students are doing very well in their studies and social lives.

In 2008 two students from Gaza, Yahia Abu Hashem and Mariam Ashour, arrived to the United States. Yahia is enrolled at Roanoke College and Mariam is enrolled at Columbia College for Women. Five more students arrived in the summer of 2008:

1. Samer Anabtawi from Jenin, West Bank, Illionois College.
2. Rayyan Yassin from Lebanon Illionois College
3. Maisaa Rantisi from Ramallah Bridgewater College
4. Akram Sublaban from Jerusalam Roanoke College
5. Bashar Zarzour from Ramallah Manhattenville College