Aiia Maasarwe scholarship aims to build bridges between Israelis and Palestinians
As Aiia Maasarwe’s family prepares for her killer’s sentencing hearing, they will also launch something special that will ensure the bubbly student isn’t forgotten.
VIC News
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The father of slain Israeli exchange student Aiia Maasarwe will return to Australia to watch her killer be sentenced — but he will also launch something special in her name.
Saeed Maasarwe will attend the sentencing hearing of Codey Herrmann on October 29 and thank the people of Melbourne for the support his family has received since her shocking murder in January.
Ms Maasarwe, 21, was raped and killed, and parts of her body burnt, on January 16 after got off a tram just after midnight in Bundoora in Melbourne’s north.
Mr Maasarwe will launch the Aiia Maasarwe Memorial Medical Fellowship Program for Project Rozana, an organisation that aims to build better understanding between Israelis and Palestinians through health initiatives.
The Aiia Maasarwe Memorial Medical Fellowship Program will provide financial support to Palestinian physicians training in Israeli hospitals, so they can address the needs of their people.
The inaugural Fellowship will be awarded to Dr Khadra Salami, a senior paediatrician in haematological-oncology.
Dr Salami will undertake a two-year paediatric bone marrow transplantation training program at Hadassah Hospital, Ein Kerem, in Jerusalem.
The aim is to enable complex transplantation surgery to be undertaken at the Augusta Victoria Hospital in East Jerusalem, where she is based.
“Aiia would have been inspired by Project Rozana and its commitment to ensure that Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza receive the same level of health care that we do in Israel,” Mr Maasarwe said.
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Project Rozana founder and chair, Mr Ron Finkel AM said, “Like so many people here and overseas, the leadership of Project Rozana was deeply affected by Aiia’s tragic death and motivated to create a project in her name.
“Our hope is that the Aiia Maasarwe Memorial Medical Fellowship Program will have lasting impact by building bridges to better understanding between Israelis and Palestinians and represent, in a meaningful way, the power of her life rather than the tragedy of her death.
“Project Rozana is humbled and honoured to have the support of Aiia’s family in setting up this fellowship program.”
Thousands attended vigils and supported Mr Maasarwe when he was last in the country to bring Aiia’s body home to Israel.