Thank you to everyone who joined us for a wonderful evening on Saturday 23rd March 2019 at the Jumeirah Carlton Tower, where we raised around £90,000.

Many of you have commented that it was our most enjoyable dinner yet and this was in large part to our speeches from Baroness Tonge, Dr Khalil Issa (Dean of An Najah Medical School) and His Excellency Ambassador Husam Zomlot. As well as performances by Hawiyya Dabke Company (Palestinian folk dance), Layth Hanbali on the piano and singerMary Lundie accompanied on the piano by Matt Mellor.

Here are some photos from the event:

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Thank you so much to everyone who came to our Political Poster event!

We raised just over £1,400 with the help of the University of Essex Palestinian Solidarity Group and Jess Twyman! A big thank you to Diana YuFei for playing the beautiful Chinese Harp and to Jake Deemer-Evans for all the photography taken. 

Here are some of the photos from the night:

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I had a real problem when I wanted to leave Gaza. The beginning date of my training in the USA was 1st July, but I couldn’t leave Gaza before the middle of August because Rafah was closed. I tried to book another time for my training, but unfortunately it was only for two weeks in the second half of September.

Going to the USA was a great experience for me. I had the chance to share cultures, experiences and knowledge with people of various cultures, beliefs and environment. I also had the chance to participate in the community activities.

During my training in one of the biggest universities in the USA, I was able to meet a great team of plastic surgeons. They taught me many new skills in surgery. I had the opportunity to work with advanced surgical equipment, which I have never seen before in Gaza. As you know, we have very bad medical and economic circumstances here in Gaza, as a result of continuous 12 years of siege.

The biggest problem I had was crossing borders, which are closed most of the time. It meant that I had to wait in Jordan for a month and a half after my elective in the USA for Rafah to open and was late starting my final year at university. That was enough to turn me upset.

However, I could fight until I achieve one of my dreams. I am so proud of my work. Luckily, I was able to extend my elective for two weeks at the University of Jordan and another two weeks at King Hussein Cancer Centre.

At the end, I am really thankful for the FQMS for their continuous support. They were keen to fund my route to the USA. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to do my elective. I am so grateful for all those who have been eminent milestones guiding me to my dream, especially my university, IUG.

 

Thank you to everyone who joined us on Friday 20th April 2018 at the Jumeirah Carlton Tower for a wonderful evening, where we raised around £127,000.

We heard inspiring speeches from Farah Nabulsi, filmmaker, who draws attention to the on-going injustices faced by Palestinians through her films, and Nick Maynard, a surgeon who frequently teaches in Gaza.

We were graced with delightful performances by Syrian singer Omran Zain accompanied on the oud by Basel Saleh, Khaled Al-Bashir, on the oud, and Hassan Rahhal, on the qanoun and singer Imogen Halsey accompanied on the piano by Harry Style.

Major thanks to the businesses and individuals, like Manchester United FC, who supported our fundraising efforts by donating items towards our silent auction and raffle.  See below for the full list:

• Darren Cullen
• Jonathan Barnbrook
• Carrie Reichardt
• Jocelyn Campbell
• David Campbell
• War Boutique
• Nassar Mansour
• Peter Kennard
• Dia Batal
• Ken Loach
• Nadia Dajani
• Najy Nasser
• Selma Tibi
• Danya Sbano
• Sarah El-Guindi
• FilFil Cafe
• Yaffa
• Zaytoun
• Chachoulie
• Hiba Express
• Orjowan
• Ishbilia
• Maramia
• English Whisky Company
• London Distillery Company
• Eastern Adornment
• Cookery Studio Kent
• Bulgari Hotel
• Jumeirah Carlton Tower
• Vaishlay
• Manchester United FC

“On October 21st 2017 twelve doctors from Oxford left Luton Airport for our ninth teaching trip to the Palestinian Territories, and our fifth teaching trip to Gaza. Our party comprised 4 surgeons, 3 paediatricians, 3 physicians, 1 radiologist and for the first time, an obstetrician! After an overnight stop in Ashdod, we crossed Erez easily and were met by Fadel Naim (Dean of IUG) and Ibrahim Abu Hassanain, our lead Teaching Assistant for the week.

We went to the University to meet the President of the University. We had arranged to spend some time with the Teaching Assistants for the week, and later that afternoon all the IUG Teaching Assistants and three of the Al Azhar Teaching Assistants joined us at the hotel for a terrific session of “Training the Trainers”. This was run by Bex Ingliss, one of the Oxford Teachers, and was a great addition to our Teaching Week. The appointment of Teaching Assistants by the Universities over the last few years has improved the clinical student teaching significantly, and we are very hopeful that the Training the Trainers half day with us will enable them to improve their teaching skills yet further. It has been very noticeable to us that the bedside skills of students have improved hugely over the last 2-3 years.

On the Wednesday evening we had a great time hearing the best audit presentations by the students, and we were enormously impressed by the quality of the audits. A prize was awarded to the winner, but we all agreed the standard was exceptional. We also contributed to an excellent Surgical Conference where the Oxford Surgeons spoke on a variety of subjects. It was an opportunity to share surgical experiences and meet old friends, and was a very enjoyable evening.

 

As always we received the most wonderful hospitality during our week, usually centred on magnificent food, and although there were, as always, many demands on our time, we never lost sight of the main purpose of our trip – to teach the clinical medical students. It is wonderful to see students we have taught in previous years now working as junior doctors, and still as enthusiastic as they were when they were students, and planning their future careers. There are well advanced for our next trip in November 2018. Although the trips are partly self-funded we are extremely grateful to FQMS for the financial support we receive for this trip.”

The trustees of FQMS would like to thank all of our supporters for making the Annual Fundraising Dinner, on Friday 3rd March 2017, a great success. We had great music from Omar Kamal and Emilia Parker, Rob Barron and David Merriman, as well as inspirational speeches from Alexei Sayle and Ahmed Masoud.

With your help we were able to raise over £138,000 in aid of medical education in Palestine.

 

Fuad Haddad attended the 2017 Dinner with his son, where he was honoured for his long service and dedication to FQMS. Thank you Fuad!

 

 

 

Lina Nashef was also honoured at the dinner for her hard-work and commitment as Chairperson for the last 6 years. Thank you Lina!

 

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FQMS had a successful dinner on Friday 11th March 2016 at the Jumeirah Carlton Tower, where with your help we raised over £100,000.

Professor Jonathan Rosenhead, the Chair of the British Committee for the Universities of Palestine, was keynote speaker and Professor Hani Abdeen, the Dean of Al Quds University Medical School, our honoured guest, addressed those present. The entertainment was super with Colm O’Regan on the piano, Molly Lynch singing with Colm O’Regan accompanying, as well as Saied Silbak performing and playing the oud.

We are including below a selection of photos from the dinner. Please contact us, if you would like your photo to be removed.