Paul Calvert spoke with Amal Dweib, the Director of the Al-Sadeel Society in Bethlehem.

Amal: Especially in Bethlehem. We started in Bethlehem and now we have expanded to Hebron and for education, all over the West Bank. We don't distinguish between Muslim and Christian, for example, the property that we are in now is a donation from a Christian person. We don't differentiate between Muslim and Christian because a sick person is a sick person. We also have Muslims and Christians that are volunteering in this job.

Paul: Do some people who have survived cancer end up becoming volunteers in Al-Sadeel?

Amal: Especially the youth. We try to recruit them because the person who has suffered, but got through it, will give a lot. In administration we have one survivor and we have around 10 cancer patients and diabetic patients that are working. Especially in the camp they give us a lot of care because they are expert in dealing with the disease. Also, they show the success, so those people are the most important part in our work.

Paul: Why do you do what you do?

Amal: I am a nurse and I love nursing. I love taking care of people. This initiative started when I found the suffering of the people, so I decided to do something for our community. I discovered there are many people like me that want to help and they want to give, but they didn't have the right place. So we realised that we needed to recruit the volunteers, as many people can make something. From my experience and from suffering with these cancer patients as an oncology nurse, I decided to do this project, because I know many friends and I have many family members that are suffering a lot with cancer and also chronic disease, so we are taking care of people whatever disease they have.

Paul: What is your prayer for anyone who has cancer today?

Amal: I pray for one of the daughters of one of my volunteers. I am asking God to cure every cancer patient, but now I have a very severe pain because one of our volunteers young children, who is nine years-old, she discovered she has Hodgkin lymphoma. It was treated and is now re-occurring, so she is now traveling to Jordan to get treatment. I am asking God to help all the cancer patients and her to be recovered from the disease. It's very difficult, but anybody who has got this disease and has someone sitting beside him, then he will be very strong. The treatment is important and the chemotherapy is important, but the psychological support and the social support and the physical support is equal 50% to the treatment. Nobody can tolerate the treatment without the support of a multi-disciplinary team.