Palestinian family in Colorado welcomes teen who lost leg in Israeli bombing of Gaza
Friday afternoon the energy outside international arrivals at Denver International Airport was infectious.
As people slowly trickled in from their international flights, people from Colorado trickled into the airport to give one teen a warm welcome.
"I'm happy, very very much," Mohammad Abu Zereiu said.
Abu Zereiu's nephew Abdalaziz is arriving from Gaza. Shelling during the war took one of his legs above the knee. Thanks to the nonprofit Heal Palestine, Abdalaziz is traveling to Colorado to receive medical treatment and spend some time with his family, who lives here.
"He hasn't seen his nephew in six years," an interpreter for Abu Zereiu said. "This is the first time here. This is the first time he has ever come out of Gaza."
Heal Palestine is a non-political humanitarian aid nonprofit organization providing medical assistance, education, and humanitarian relief to the people of Gaza. They currently have 28 injured children from Gaza in the U..S. being treated. Abdalaziz will soon be one of them. His uncle calls it a blessing.
"I pray to God, anything that can help support him, will support him," Abu Zereiu said through an interpreter.
There was no shortage of support at the airport for Abdalaziz's arrival and they let him hear it as soon as they saw him.
After a long flight and an even longer war, Abdalaziz says this welcome gives him hope that his stay here will be a good one.
"He's very excited to be here and be surrounded, surrounded by all the love with the people from Colorado he's excited to meet everybody, interact with everybody, and really appreciate everybody that is in Colorado," his interpreter said.
This is at least the second person from Gaza to receive treatment in Colorado in a year thanks to a nonprofit. Ahed Bseiso came to Denver to get a state-of-the-art prosthetic leg thanks to the efforts of the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund.
