Pioneering mothers who set up organisations to serve their children and the community

On the occasion of mothers' day (March 21st), As Safir newspaper published a report highlighting the cases of special mothers who have experienced the predicaments of their children or who have lost their children because of a disease or car accident and who have thus transformed their personal tragedies into boarder humanitarian and societal issues.  The report relays the stories of four women who set up NGOs to mark their love for their children and to build communication networks amongst other women suffering from similar plights.
Anne Marie Jazzar al Hajj, the president of Un Coeur Pour Philippe, is Philippe's mother who died because of a heart failure.  She notes that since she was not able to save her son, she feels extreme happiness in saving other children's lives.  She adds that her organisation has thus far cared for nine patients to whom it has provided the pacemaker device which cost ranges between USD 90 to 100 thousand.  Zeina Kassem, the president of Roads for Life - the Talal Kassem Fund for Post-Accident care, notes that her organisation was created after her son Talal died in a car accident.  Her organisation now works with doctors and first aid workers and trains them on state of the art programmes adopted in some 70 countries to save patients during "the golden hour" which is the sixty minutes directly following the injury.  She notes that 200 doctors were trained since the establishment of the organization in 2011, in addition to 100 first aid workers trained in 2013 alone.  The member of the Lebanese Down Syndrome Association Hana Salem shares her experience with her 23 year old daughter Zeina who has Down Syndrome.  She talks about the creation of her association in 1998 with the aim of providing support to parents as well as create a communication network amongst them and with organisations in addition to focusing on scientific research.  She highlighted the success of her organisation during the past few years particularly in challenging myths related to Down Syndrom as well as facing social stereotypes and supporting children in this condition.  The President of the Lebanese Autism Society –LAS Arwa Al Amine Halaoui talks about the idea of creating her organisation and which comes from her own experience with her son Abbas, now 24 years old, and the experience of other parents and the need to share this and accompany children with autism and raise social awareness on this condition. All those interviewed note that the activities of their organisations may not lessen the pain or compensate losses; however, their pain makes them feel more empathy towards others.
Source: Al-Safir 21 March 2014