A Collective Responsibility Towards the Children of Palestine | Steve Sosebee

The Palestine Children’s Relief Fund’s president and founder, Steve Sosebee, joins us to talk about Gaza’s children, the nature of the work that the PCRF is doing and the immense pressure that the healthcare and sanitary systems are under right now in Gaza. 

Steve lays out the state of the healthcare system in Gaza pre- and post-October 7 and how the absolute destruction taking place is impacting their ability to support Gaza’s children and vulnerable patients. He conveys the reality of what “operational” means for hospitals doing their best to support the community in Gaza right now, as well as the risks posed by the spread of disease now and in the imminent future. 

Finally, he explains why he believes there’s no sufficient psychological treatment or support for the trauma that Palestinian children are facing because the real source of the trauma is the continued occupation and state violence that they are enduring. This episode was recorded on Tuesday Nov 7, at 7pm Palestine time. 

Please note that we're recording special podcast episodes relevant to understanding historical context to what is happening in Palestine. Make sure to check out the other highly informative conversations with guests from completely different disciplines who are generously sharing their time and insight in these dark times.

About Steve Sosebee:

Steve Sosebee is the president and founder of the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF). While working as a journalist, Sosebee met two children in Hebron who had been injured by a bombing of their home. He brought them from the West Bank to the USA for free medical care. Following this, he met and later married a Palestinian woman named Huda al Masry, a social worker with the YMCA in Jerusalem. Together, they built the PCRF with the support of a network of volunteers from all over the world. In 2009, Huda passed away from cancer and Sosebee moved back to Palestine with their daughters, building the first public pediatric cancer department in Beit Jala Hospital in his late wife’s name. 

About PCRF: 

Since its establishment in 1992, PCRF has become the primary humanitarian organization in Palestine that delivers critical and life-saving medical relief and humanitarian aid. To date, they’ve sent over 2000 children abroad for free medical care, as well as thousands of international doctors and nurses to provide tens of thousands of children free medical care in local hospitals. They have also delivered crucial humanitarian aid to Palestine’s children. PCRF has also established two pediatric cancer departments, a new PICU and pediatric cardiology department in Ramallah, amongst other projects that support the country’s healthcare system. 

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afikra | عفكرة is a movement to convert passive interest in the Arab world to active intellectual curiosity. We aim to collectively reframe the dominant narrative of the region by exploring the histories and cultures of the region – past, present and future – through conversations driven by curiosity.
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