Forced to flee

While Ahmed had been fortunate to have been born during a time of growth and stability in his country, his future wife had a very different start to her life.

Suad bint Ibrahim Al Husseini was born in Jerusalem in 1933, when the city was still part of British-administered Palestine. It was a time of escalating tensions between the Jewish and Arab communities and the Great Revolt of 1936 triggered riots, shootings, and bombings.

Suad’s childhood was one defined by the conflict that surrounded her and imprinted a lasting empathy for people less fortunate than herself. “My father's family was politically active and as a result, they were persecuted by the occupying authorities” recalls Suad during a 2017 speech at the American University in Cairo.

“My mother was also captured, simply for being a German living in Palestine. I recall making the long journey with my father and my little brother to Bethlehem prison, later to Sarona, a concentration camp near Jaffa, to visit my mother every weekend during her long years of captivity until the end of World War Two. I recall very clearly in my childhood memory the pain and the hardship that we as a family endured.”

Following her mother’s release, the family fled to Lebanon in 1948, joining thousands of other frantic refugees squeezed onto boats. Amid the confusion, memories of fear and apprehension would stay with Suad throughout her life - and inspire her future philanthropy.

“My family was forced to flee Palestine and my parents made their way to Beirut by sea. The memory of the exodus is painfully carved in my mind forever. We were crammed into small boats that carried us to a mooring ship outside the old port of Jaffa.”

“The boat was already packed with refugees and their belongings. But the authorities kept letting more and more people come on board. Confusion was everywhere. It all looked so adventurous and exciting for us children but soon we could feel the emptiness and the sadness filling the hearts of all those on board the ship.”

“Our arrival at Beirut sea port was dramatic. Thousands of refugees disembarked without proper documentation, passports or permits; we were citizens of a country that no more existed. We were families with no funds to sustain us and we were people without a future to look forward to. The adaptation to a new environment was very difficult and my parents had to struggle to survive. “

“Overnight, we became refugees living in exile. My parents, and especially my father, had high hopes of returning back to Palestine. But the political as well as our financial situation worsened from day to day.”

“All we had was what we set out with on this rough and dangerous journey, a few personal belongings, my parents education, a good reputation and a will to survive.”