User:Archiliberte/Nadia Alawa

Nadia Alawa is a Syrian American humanitarian activist who founded NuDay, a nonprofit relief organization helping Syrian refugees with a focus on mothers and children.

Biography and humanitarian work
While Nadia Alawa grew up in Denmark, her father was Syrian. During her teenage years, she converted to Islam and married her husband in Syria. They lived in Japan, New York state, and Massachusetts. The family moved to New Hampshire in 1996. They settled in East Hampstead, where Alawa home-schooled her children.

In 2011, Arab Spring protests in Syria were violently suppressed by President Bashar al-Assad. Shocked by the death of Hamza Ali Al-Khateeb, Alawa decided to help Syrian women and children. The protests turned into full-scale war. In 2012, Alawa set up rallies, organized fund-raisers, and began assisting Syrian families. She founded NuDay in 2013.

Alawa's organization began several infrastructure projects in Syria, restoring wells and helping build new homes. They also helped construct medical clinics and provided medical supplies, consultation, midwife care for pregnant women, and ambulances imported from New Jersey for emergency transportation in Damascus. NuDay built four schools in Syria, including the Freedom School, which offers K-12 co-educational opportunities to Syrian refugees. The delivery of humanitarian aid includes the orphan sponsorship program covering baby supplies, and "Containers of love and hope" with clothes, bedding, medical items, food, toys, and hygiene products.

Personal life
Nadia's husband Aiman is Syrian. She is a mother of eight.