12-Year-Old Sending Medical Help to Refugees, How to Donate

CHEVY CHASE, MD — Inspired by her father's work with Syrian refugees stuck in camps in Jordan, Shaadi Ghorbani is on a mission of her own: Raising $10,000 by Jan. 7 to help provide some of the basic medical supplies doctors need to treat patients. From blood pressure monitors and thermometers to the money to drive a patient to a facility for an MRI, doctors are short on the tools needed to treat refugees.

The 12-year-old Chevy Chase girl has started an online fundraiser to help pay for some of those necessities when her father returns to the Middle East in a few weeks. Her goal on the site is $10,000 by Wednesday; to date she has raised $5,225.

Dr. Ali Ghorbani worked to treat patients over a year ago at the Zaatari Refugee Camp in Jordan, and plans to return to the region in January. His daughter decided to lend a hand to help prevent deaths in the camps, where she says refugees go blind by perfectly preventable illnesses, but they don't have the money to pay for surgery, for example. Refugees must pay for transportation to hospitals and treatment costs once they arrive, she says.

"It's not just the fact that the refugees cannot afford it either, it's also that many refugee camp clinics do not have adequate supplies for helping diagnose or cure somebody of an illness. My dad saw a clinic that didn't even have a functioning blood pressuring monitor, and that's just the tip of the iceberg!" Shaadi wrote on the GoFundMe site under the heading HelpDad Fund Medical Refugee Needs!

While she knows if the donations reach her goal that's a fraction of the money needed to address the problems, Shaadi says it will still change lives.

"The donation money is not going towards the airport or hotel fees for my dad and his colleagues, so you don't have to worry about your money going towards first class seating, five star hotels, and other unnecessary expenses like that," she wrote online.

Her father worried about backlash his daughter might face, but told Montgomery Community Media he is proud of her efforts.

“We’re very close and we always talk about things . I didn’t know the extent that she wanted be involved […] I am proud of her for what she has done,” said Dr. Ghorbani.

Shaadi tells her supporters that they will improve lives. "Not a cent of your money will go to anything other than medical supplies, medicine, transportation, or medical fees for refugees."

»Photo from Shaadi Ghorbani's GoFundMe site