Malki Children Center

Amman

Let me tell you about Qahtan Malki, God bless his soul. He was my best friend from medical school, and one of the smartest people I ever met in my life. Qahtan was a role model for me in medical school with his focus, fun spirit, active lifestyle, morals, and humanity. Unfortunately, my residency and fellowship years and the fast pace of living in the US took us apart. Five years ago I was devastated with his passing.

Many of us wanted to keep his flag standing specially his wife, Lama. Lama told me how they always wanted to sponsor an orphanage. Last year, Malki-Salam Children Center for psychological rehab opened its doors for the Syrian children refugees and today we were blessed to visit it. The fourteen kids presented to us songs and plays that they prepared for Mother's Day party.

Dr. Shafik Amer is an exemplary psychiatrist who is the cornerstone of this center with his excellent staff. He is modest and passionate. The children love him and he loves them back. Today, he was the conductor of the plays, the poetic reciter, and the great humanitarian. Those children were well behaved and happy. They sang with enthusiasm for their mothers and the mother of all, Syria. I have to admit that their passion was more upbeat when they sang to Syria. 

We learned from the staff today that this wonderful center has a triple aim: the children, the families and the staff. They are working hard to relieve those children's suffering and trauma and to free them from the feelings of pain, fear and sadness. They want to make them feel safe and develop their skills and improve their self-confidence. They want them to trust others and trust the future. Their families are also being trained to deal with them, supported to provide the right environment to raise the kids of the future of Syria, and helped overcome their own psychological traumas. This center is the nucleus and training ground where staff get the experience to be able to open other centers in many other areas.

For the past few days, I have seen many Syrian children refugees. Our humanitarian team had to work really hard to plant smiles on their faces. The children in Malki-Salam center were initially genuinely happy. They are the next generation who will is going to help us rebuild Syria. Qahtan's soul must be happy now.