When Mohammed Abuobaid went to pick up a van for Palestinian orphans to go to school roughly two months ago, he was happier than if the vehicle were his own.

“The happiness felt is like walking in a cloud,” Abuobaid told the Tribune in Arabic, using Refugee Life Foundation co-founder Nader Abuzir as a translator.

The 15-seat 2022 GMC Savana gives about 30 children from the Center for the Protection of Childhood, an orphanage in the West Bank, a safe ride to and from school, he said. The large white van was funded by Chicagoans and others who took part in the Refugee Life Foundation’s Humanity 5K last April.

On April 27 of last year, about 500 runners and brisk walkers lined up for the third annual Humanity 5K, a family-friendly race organized by the foundation at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview, and raised about $76,000 for the orphanage’s van.

Rashad Darwish, the chairman and co-founder of Refugee Life, chose the orphanage because he felt the children in that area had been “forgotten,” especially as Gaza reels from war with Israel.

The war erupted two years ago after Hamas-led fighters went into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage, The Associated Press reported. A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect two years later on Oct. 10. Over 69,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war as of November, according to the AP, while Israeli settler violence persists in the West Bank

For the Palestinian orphans in Tulkarem, a West Bank city near Israel’s eastern border, a van for school pickups and drop-offs was a pressing need. Before the van, children from all over the West Bank had to be car-pooled by volunteers to different schools around the area, said Abuobaid, the secretary of the orphanage and a volunteer there since 2012.

Sometimes the orphans were unable to attend school because there were not enough vehicles to take them, said Darwish.

“If the van was used for medical emergencies, that means the kids were stuck and did not go to school,” he said. “So we’re very proud that the folks from Chicago and nationally, but mostly in Chicago, donated and sponsored the 5K.”

Now with the van, school pickups and drop-offs are faster and more efficient, Abuobaid told the Tribune.

The children were extremely happy, Abuobaid said, as it was something they felt they owned. “They have been looking for this for a long time and finally they got it.”

The ample van with its red crescent logo also helps volunteers driving children to school or medical appointments avoid cumbersome checkpoints and searches by Israeli forces, said Abuobaid.

In December, the foundation posted a Facebook video showing grinning Palestinian children in the van, their backpacks strapped and winter jackets zipped, on their way to school.

The van, which was modified to add three more seats, is also used for recreational activities like guest dinners with locals and play time, said Abuobaid. When the weather improves and the kids are done with final exams, Abuobaid hopes to take them out for a picnic.

The Center for the Protection of Childhood orphanage in Tulkarem was founded in 1981 and is part of Palestine’s Red Crescent Society. It hosts boys and girls ages 1 to 14 who lost their parents or whose families could not support them, and provides them with food, shelter and health care, according to Abuobaid.

A native of Bethlehem in the West Bank, Nader Abuzir co-founded Refugee Life Foundation with four others in 2020 after years of volunteering with the Palestinian Children Relief Fund to expand his aid to underserved children.

He learned about Tulkarem’s orphanage because a friend of his was an orphan there after her father was killed. Abuzir then connected with the organizers there and realized they needed a van, which the foundation thought was doable.

“Our mission is the children,” said Abuzir, who moved to the Chicago area in 1987 and lives in Lockport. “It doesn’t matter what’s their nationality, what’s their religion, as long as it’s something we can help with, we will participate.”

They looked at dealers in Ramallah and contacted a lawyer there to make sure the transaction was clean. Finally, Abuobaid went to pick up the van.

“They were ecstatic,” Abuzir said about the children.

Abuzir, 58, has been running for humanitarian causes since 2010. He has run 14 Chicago Marathons, 20 half marathons and one Bethlehem marathon — all to raise awareness for the plight of Palestinian children and the world, he said.

Some of the foundation’s programs include local initiatives like Back2School Kicks, which donates shoes and backpacks to Chicago kids, and the Amir Darwish scholarship for refugees.

They plan to hold a 2026 Humanity 5K race and Abuzir is already looking toward who to help next.

“Every time I help somebody, the feeling is like no other,” Abuzir said. “When we volunteer and help people, we think we are helping them, but we are helping ourselves.”

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/05/palestinian-orphanage-van-chicago-nonprofit/