Hosting Palestinian children who came to St. Louis for serious medical treatment changed Linda Badran’s life.
The children – Hadil from the Gaza Strip and Bara’a from the West Bank – came through Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, a nonprofit organization that brings injured and ill Palestinian children to the U.S. for free medical care.
“When Hadil walked into our home, my family was forever transformed,” Badran told St. Louis on the Air. “Hosting these children did so much more for me and my family and my community. Our community came together in an amazing way.”
In November, Badran co-founded a St. Louis chapter of PCRF. She said the urgency of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza compelled her to look for new ways to help. Nearly half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are children, with 40% of those killed or injured being children.
“We're feeling the gravity of what it's going to take not just to rebuild Gaza, but to make the survivors whole again. And I think that PCRF is in a unique position to do that,” Badran said. “There was no question that we needed to step up and do this.”
Badran said she fostered a strong bond with the children she hosted in 2013 and 2016. Over the years, she maintained the connection, speaking with them almost daily.
She hasn’t heard from Hadil since October, shortly after the start of Israel's retaliatory air strikes. This month, Hadil turned 24.
“She would be so upset with me if we didn’t speak for a few days,” Badran said. “I'm going to stay positive, and I believe in my heart that she's OK. But I would have loved to speak with her [on her birthday].”
For the full conversation with Linda Badran about how caring for injured Palestinian children changed her and what the situation in Gaza is like for children, listen to the full St. Louis on the Air conversation on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or by clicking the play button below.
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Ulaa Kuziez is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr. Send questions and comments about this story to talk@stlpr.org.
