Thread by @Stevesosebee

30 years ago, I was a writer during the 1st Intifada and met a 10y old boy named Nizar who lost his arm, a foot, and a leg from an IDF bomb that hit his home in #Gaza. I'd wrote a lot of stories about injured kids in Palestine and wanted very much to do more than just write.

I was in my early 20s and had just graduated from Kent State in Ohio, my hometown. I couldn't keep writing about injured kids and then do nothing to help them. A year earlier, I sent the first two injured kids (from Hebron) to Ohio for free care. He was also a triple amputee.

After Mansour returned home, I met Nizar in #Gaza. I thought I could do the same for him that I did for Mansour - get him new legs to walk again and maybe something more: A better life than a refugee camp in Gaza. I didn't really know what I was doing, but I did it anyway.

To inspire and encourage Nizar, I took Mansour, who had just gotten back home, to meet Nizar in Jerusalem. An Israeli journalist did a story about the two triple amputees: One back from treatment, the other going. That was 30 years ago in Palestine. We were all just kids.

Nizar got free care at the @ShrinersSoCal, which gave him new legs, stump revision, and rehabilitation. (Shriners are great. Support them if you can.) Soon Nizar was walking again but had significant PTSD - we had no Arabic-speaking therapists to help him. Also, the LA riots.

I saw the positive impact on these injured children, so I started a nonprofit called @ThePCRF to get more kids out for care. PCRF is now one of the main NGOs in Palestine, but that's a different thread. This is the story of Nizar and, later, about something deeper.

As his treatment was long-term, we put Nizar in school in Ohio with host families caring for him from the local Palestinian community. In one year, we won the "Yes, I Can!" award, got a letter from President Clinton, and was flown to Texas to receive the award.

When he came to the USA, he could hardly read and write in his own Arabic language, and within a year, he won an academic award. All credit goes to Nizar, the community in #Cleveland who cared for him, and his proud teacher.

There were other news stories about Nizar, and he continued to do great. But he had to go back to his family in Palestine, so we enrolled him in a boarding school in #Bethlehem (back then, Gazans could travel out of Gaza freely. We would not be able to do this today).

Nizar has his own children now and is back in #Gaza. He couldn't build a life outside of Palestine, but he's fine. We are friends, and I do what I can to help him when needed. Three days ago, his cousin was killed in a bombing. Thankfully, Nizar and his family are safe.

If you read this far, this isn't really a story about Nizar. It's about Rahaf Salman, the same age as Nizar when he was injured. She's also from #Gaza; a #refugee; and now a triple #amputee after her home was bombed two days ago.

I shared Nizar's story because we who care about the children of Gaza must remember not to lose our humanity to hopelessness. We can't stop bombs from falling, but we can heal Rahaf the same way we healed Nizar: Through love, compassion, and dedication. Never give up. Peace.

He won the award, not we. Typo.