We all know how impressionable children can be, while at the same time providing rays of hope and light for the future. So, when a child is inflicted with a loss of a limb due to a tragic roadside bomb or born with a congenital defect that her home country does not have the necessary equipment or know-how to address, we’re left wondering if a little surgical reprieve will help that child stand in his or her possibility a little bit brighter.
Maxim Hygiene Products‘ November Fierce Woman of the Month, Amel Najjar, Executive Director and Founder of the Children of War Foundation (COWF), is the light at the end of the tunnel for many of these children, having created a non-profit that is providing top quality care for children with unique medical conditions that would otherwise be untreatable in countries outside of the U.S.
In watching her husband, Dr. Jeffrey Hammoudeh, a plastic surgeon who also specializes in pediatric plastic surgery, oral surgery and maxillofacial surgery, provide transformational care for children at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles and USC, she was amazed by the before and after affects of the tricky surgical procedures he was providing his patients. Combining her unique position in this influential community of accomplished physicians with her travels abroad to over sixty-eight countries where she witnessed firsthand the effects of war and poverty, Amel is using her passion about issues concerning children’s rights and third-world conditions to make a fierce impact.
In the first medical mission she led with COWF, the group was able to transform the lives of fifty-five children in four days, which left Amel feeling “propelled to take a whole different outlook on how one person can have a vision and transform the lives of children from all backgrounds.” What was astonishing for us was that they were able to achieve this life altering mission, which would have normally cost millions of dollars, with under $30,000.00, making their cause sustainable and cost effective. This is mainly due to “having partnerships and strong team members who come from all professions,” allowing COWF “to be creative on how we manage to provide surgical treatment to children.” The Los Angeles Daily News details the story of two unique COWF cases that required the charitable contributions and time of the West LA community and you can read about others here on COWF’s website.
At around the same time Amel was giving life to her vision for COWF, she also gave birth to her first child which as she recounted to us, “changed my perception on the work we do and our mission. It became more personal for me, it allowed me to think about roles being reversed…as if my child were the other person. Something else that many people don’t know is that I have a spinal cord injury and know what it’s like to feel pain and helplessness, now, imagine a child with these feelings. These experiences really are the catalyst of my ambition to do more and expand our mission.”
In our exclusive Q&A with Amel found below, you can learn more about COWF and be further inspired by this fierce woman’s efforts.
At Maxim Hygiene, we define a Fierce Woman as a “glorious female creature whose idea of beauty is hinged upon the idea that she can change the world with each choice, each moment and each breath of her life.” Aside from you, who in your life is a Fierce Woman and why?
First of all, I appreciate and love the fact that you relate a glorious female as someone who’s “beauty” is defined as a woman who does something to change the world rather than define her in physical perception and or manner.
There are several women in my life who I can describe as being fierce, especially women within our organization, who challenge me to push boundaries and who have made Children of War Foundation the global entity that it is. With that said, the first person that comes to mind as a Fierce Woman in my life is my mother. She’s super fierce! When I take a look at the wonderful life I have and all the resources I have at my fingertips, I look back at my mother and the resources she had, which were very little to what I have now, and I can’t imagine doing what she did over 30 years ago in our world today. She’s a woman that had children very early in life, worked two jobs along with my father, put herself in nursing school and lived between two countries, with two completely cultures and norms. She made sacrifices to make life work for her husband and her children. Sometimes I have to stop and think to myself, when I say things are hard, and be thankful for what a fierce woman my mother is, which allows me to reset what I say is hard. She’s also fierce, because she’s able to tell her eldest and only daughter what she thinks, whether we agree or not. That’s a fierce woman in my life.
On your website you have posted the following beautiful quote by another Fierce Woman, Helen Keller, “I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; I will not refuse to do the something I can do.” Throughout the process of growing COWF to where it is today, was there ever a time where you felt you were alone in understanding your mission. If so, what do you do to help get yourself out of that state of mind to remind yourself that you aren’t alone and that the work you do will not go unknown?
There are many days I feel that I am battling thoughts of being alone in what I do, I find that especially so when I open emails with stories of children who are in dire need of medical treatment. Seeing not only the physical needs in haunting images make it hard, but the stories of how and why, really make me sink in my chair when I am sifting through them. The reason I feel alone at those times is because they are usually children that I cannot help due to the cost or limitations of resources. I have to think about all the other kids lives that have been transformed by COWF, and also think about our great team members we have, who have sacrificed time and energy to help make it that happen. I guess you can call it a balancing act, it’s hard not be emotional when it comes to a child’s life, knowing that you can be that one person who will make or break their future.
Are there any particular conditions that are prevalent amongst the children COWF treats?
We receive inquires daily on children who need surgical treatment, most of those are congenital anomalies and victims of some sort of accident or injury. We try to delineate who we can help by current resources at hand, and if we can’t help we usually find organizations that can and refer them to. Most certainly, what makes us different than many other organizations is that 95% of the children we have transformed and provided surgical treatment to, are those that would have otherwise not been helped.
What is COWF’s biggest need right now?
Like many registered non-profits, we’re always raising funds to continue our mission. As of today, our organization runs solely off of volunteers, including myself. All funds received go towards our mission and ensuring that we can continue to grow. To learn more or make a donation, please visit our website at www.cowf.org
Your stories of hope and children of war are planting seeds of peace. What is your biggest wish for peace in the upcoming new year?
The biggest wish for peace is something that most people would automatically assume that it has something to do with conflict and disagreements. Through my experience, life-altering experience within my personal life, I feel that Peace is something that someone needs to achieve within themselves before they can wish it upon others. Peace is something that can be within reach for everyone if we all have peace within ourselves.