MembersFirst Bedouin Ambulance Driver

“I am fulfilling my dream of saving lives,” gushed Urud Abu Abed, the first Muslim Bedouin ambulance driver for Magen David Adom (Red Shield of David), the Israeli sister organization to the International Red Cross.

Abu Abed finished high school with high marks, already quite the accomplishment for a woman from Bedouin society, and is currently studying psychology at the Open University in Tel Aviv. But her real passion is medicine. “Life led me to work at a bank for the past six years, and I really like my job,” said Abu Abed. “But I want to give more of myself, to help others, and the field of medicine provides that opportunity. So I volunteered at Magen David Adom and joined their course in the [Negev Bedouin town of] Rahat about a year ago.”

As a volunteer, Abu Abed has a regular shift every Friday, and is also tasked with instructing children at local schools about home safety and first aid. “During my volunteer work in the ambulance, I decided that I wanted to become a driver,” she recalled. “Recently,...