APPEH is a not-for-profit organisation started in Adelaide in 2010 by a group of concerned professionals working in finance, real estate, education and health. The aim is to support education and health services in Palestinian refugee camps. Projects have included funding:

• the purchase of computers and training to enable the development of English-language textbooks to be used in schools;
• the visit to Australia of two senior Palestinian educators who learnt ways to improve assessment, teaching and evaluation of English language teaching in schools;
• (with Australian Volunteers International) a short-term volunteer to UNRWA Lebanon in the role of English Language Advisor;
• part of a psychologist’s salary and the purchase of much needed psychological and psychometric assessments at the Treatment and Rehabilitation Center for Victims of Torture based in Ramallah. This organisation supports Palestinian families who have experienced political violence.

APPEH Board members

Julia Beaven trained and worked as a paediatric speech pathologist for over 20 years. For the last 16 years she has been submissions editor and senior editor at Wakefield Press, a South Australian independent publishing house that publishes around 50 to 60 books a year. She has recently also worked as a PBL tutor with masters speech pathology students at Flinders University.

Dr Emma Hanieh is a clinical psychologist and senior lecturer at the University of Adelaide.

Greg Hansen started his working life in human services using creative programs to support effective and sustainable transition to the workforce for young unemployed people, before moving to a position as Research and Liaison Officer for the Minister for Employment and Youth Affairs. In 1999 he established the Real Estate Training College. He has served on many committees and boards in a range of areas such as childcare, affordable housing, refugees and sporting groups.

Prof Jon Jureidini, APPEH Chair, is a child psychiatrist at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Adelaide. He heads Adelaide University’s Paediatric Mental Health Training Unit, providing training and support to GPs, allied health professionals, teachers and counsellors in non-pathologising approaches to primary care mental health.

Lisa Salomon has worked in the Department of Education and Child Development (DECD) in South Australia for over 30 years. Her final roles were as Principal of Ernabella Anangu School in far north-west South Australia, and as a Leadership Consultant in DECD. Lisa is a founding board member of APPEH.

Richard Steele, an integral part of APPEH’s inception, has recently stepped down from the board. He was a volunteer with UNRWA in Lebanon through AVI in 2011-2012. He now works in Kiribati.

John Hansen, former APPEH treasurer, was born in 1930. A qualified accountant he retired to Carrickalinga in 1988 after 40 years in the construction industry as finance director/group general manager of large public and private companies. Previous community contributions include Rotary, SA President of Australian Institute of Building, and Director of Studies at Australian Institute of Management. John passed away earlier this year, and he is greatly missed.