How It All Began...
Dr. Jawad Trad (TJ) was born in Beirut, Lebanon mid the country's civil war. He witnessed the horrors of war, and the triumphs of good men and women. All he wanted in life was to save lives, to be someone's hope to live among their loved ones, as he had lost his father due to war at the age of nine.
Dr. Trad moved to the United States as a young teenager, where he started college at Oklahoma State University at a very young age. Art, poetry and medicine were his solace, and after seventeen years of education he got to call the heart his ideo vives.
Dr. Trad graduated with a fellowship in invasive cardiology on June 3, 2016, after finishing his undergraduate degree in Biochemistry, master’s degree in Biomedical sciences, and his residency training in Internal Medicine. Few days after graduation, Dr Trad lead a medical mission trip to Haiti, where he realized that his ultimate calling is humanitarian work. Shortly after, he found himself at the Lebanese-Syrian border treating refugees of war, witnessing faces so familiar from childhood. It was then when CURA was founded, to fight poverty - The root of everything wrong in the world.
CURA for the world was founded on a vision to heal and nourish the neglected, to break the chains of the illiterate, to reach the unreachable and to have limitless love in a world where love is often forgotten.
CURA WAS FOUNDED September of 2016
CURA created a sustainable model to allow people to lift themselves out of poverty through permaculture and medical aid. CURA works with communities to provide a pathway for change. Without health and sustainable food source, overcoming poverty could take mountainous efforts with little success. However, with some assistance, communities in the developing world are able to place themselves in a position to eradicate poverty in their communities in a sustainable manner; CURA provides the assistance.
Medical Aid: We identify partnering NGOs that operate in remote areas in the developing world. We believe that NGOs that provide care to orphans and education and/or support to disadvantaged women are the perfect incubators for a grass-roots approach to eliminate poverty. We identify health access constraints on the community as measured by the closest access to basic medical care to these NGOs/communities. By identifying the most common causes of illnesses, we build basic medical clinics and work with local doctors and nurses to help with preventive measures. (Investment Budget 15-30 thousand Dollars)
Food Security: By teaching communities about permaculture (i.e. sustainable agriculture with poly-crop ability and biomimicry), installing demonstration plots, and providing adequate clean water access, we are building community capacity to increase their own food sovereignty and ultimately shift their focus from the basic necessities of living. The time earned through such efforts gives families space to invest in education and dreams beyond survival. (Investment Budget 10-20 thousand Dollars)
These two pillars compliment each other by focusing on both treatment and prevention at the same time. Our Medical Aid program treats existing health concerns and our Food Security efforts work to address the root causes of poverty.
Thus far, we have partnered with organizations in Haiti, Uganda, Peru, DRC and Tanzania. In 2019, CURA for the world partnered with Empower for Hope in Burundi.
Since our inception a 3 years ago, our efforts have played a key role in providing medical care for more than 20 thousand patients and have built food security programs that mimic an existing project which fed more than 20 thousand people. CURA’s goal is to be in 30 developing nations by 2030.
CURA’s hope is that our model will be replicated throughout the world. Our efforts in the future will include partnerships with local governments and NGOs to propel neglected communities towards a healthy productive living.
Imagine a world where billions of dormant minds are given the power of the pen, a leveled playing field, and a horizon full of possibilities. Eliminating poverty is our only option for a better tomorrow.
DR TRAD
The story behind our image
It all started with a doctor’s dream, a vision, like minded friends, lots of hard work and the will to make the world a better place by lending a helping hand.
Genesis: Cūra (genitive cūrae); a healing hand, a helping hand in Latin.
" Our logo tells the story of a helping hand -CURA- gently holding the globe represented by the letter “C”, a simple circle open and ready for helping the neglected. The “U” which makes a turn around the globe and come reaching out to the rest of the letters, create one strong entity. Cura’s logo clearly shows the mission to travel the world to help those in need, this hand-drawn shape bring to life a dream, colored in black to reflect the seriousness of the work. After all black is the combination of all primary colors ."
- Jihan Fadel