Arwa Damon

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Arwa Damon
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Alma materSkidmore College (BA)
OccupationJournalist
RelativesMuhsin al-Barazi (grandfather)
Azad Al-Barazi (cousin)

Arwa Damon (born September 19, 1977) is an American journalist who was most recently a senior international correspondent for

refugee children from Syria
.

Early life and education

Born in Boston on September 19, 1977,[2] to an American father and Syrian mother, Damon spent her early childhood years in Wayland, Massachusetts.[3][failed verification] Damon is the granddaughter of Muhsin al-Barazi, the former Prime Minister of Syria, who was executed in the August 1949 Syrian coup d'état.[4]

At the age of six, Damon and her family moved to

American Community School at Beirut from 2003 until his retirement in 2013.[5]

Damon skipped sixth grade and graduated with honors from

double major in French and biology and a minor in international affairs. She is fluent in Arabic, French, Turkish, and English, having grown up speaking all four languages.[citation needed
]

Before becoming a reporter, Damon worked for a New York–based Turkish textile company.[citation needed]

Career

CameraPlanet

Damon decided to become a journalist after

9/11, and moved to Baghdad prior to the beginning of the Iraq War.[4][7] She began her career at CameraPlanet, a supplier of media content for television newscasts, working to get correspondent Peter Arnett's team into pre-war Iraq. For three years, she covered the Middle East as a freelance producer working with CNN, CNN International, PBS, Fox News and others, before joining CNN in February 2006.[citation needed
]

CNN/CNN International

Damon also covered the Iraqi

]

During the Syrian civil war, Damon travelled multiple times to Syria and to refugee camps for Syrians.[8] After the 2012 Benghazi attack, she was one of the first journalists to arrive at the scene; she recovered slain Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens' personal diary.[4]

In 2013, Damon followed an anti-

Odzala National Park in the Republic of the Congo. The feature was called Arwa Damon Investigates: Ivory War.[9][8]

In April 2014, after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping, she travelled to West Africa and the islands of Lake Chad to follow the hunt for the terrorists.[8]

Damon covered the

International military intervention against ISIL on numerous occasions, dating to the beginning of the conflict.[8]

Damon returned to Iraq in the second half of 2016 and covered the Battle of Mosul. Riding with a convoy consisting of press and Iraqi soldiers, she came under heavy fire by IS troops and was trapped. After 28 hours of entrenched fighting, reinforcements from the Iraqi military rescued them.[8]

Damon travelled to Thailand to cover the Tham Luang cave rescue.[8]

Damon often shows interest in reporting on nature, environmental protection and similar themes. In 2018 she accompanied a Greenpeace group to Antarctica and made a feature of it.[10]

In 2019 Damon travelled to Kathmandu in Nepal to report on a spike in fatalities amongst Mount Everest climbers.[11][12]

2019 she traveled again with Greenpeace, this time to the

loss of ice at the poles and their importance for the whole ecosystem of the earth.[13]

She announced her departure from CNN in June 2022, after an 18-year reporting career with the network.

INARA

INARA (the International Network for Aid, Relief and Assistance) is a

non-profit organization that was co-founded by Arwa Damon in 2015 in Beirut, Lebanon. INARA provides medical services for children who have been wounded in war zones. It also provides rehabilitation treatment for its beneficiaries.[14]

The organization focuses on refugee children from Syria. As of August 2018, INARA has managed to provide treatment to over 150 refugee children.[15][16][17]

Awards and honors

Damon won an

IRE Award for her reporting of the Consulate attack in Benghazi, along with fellow photojournalist Sarmad Qaseera.[18][19]

Damon was part of the CNN team who won the 2012

Legal history

Damon and CNN were sued by two employees of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad claiming that on July 19, 2014, an intoxicated Damon bit them. Damon acknowledged the incident and apologized.[23][24]

References

  1. ^ "Our Board". INARA. Retrieved November 3, 2016.
  2. ^ "Media People: CNN's Arwa Damon on War Reporting, Tattoos and Close Calls". November 10, 2017. Retrieved September 14, 2020.
  3. ^ "Word from the Headmaster". ACS.edu.lb. Archived from the original on January 25, 2009. Retrieved December 11, 2008.
  4. ^ a b c d Mitchell, Heidi (November 19, 2012). "Facing the Truth: CNN's Arwa Damon". Vogue. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved June 30, 2014.
  5. ^ "Special dinner held recognizing Dr. George H. Damon, Jr., retiring head of the American Community School at Beirut". American Community School, Beirut; News Post. July 15, 2013. Retrieved July 1, 2014.
  6. ^ CNN Programs – Anchors/Reporters – Arwa Damon CNN.
  7. ^ Gold, Hadas (March 10, 2014). "Getting There: CNN's Arwa Damon". Politico. Retrieved June 30, 2014.
  8. ^ a b c d e f "Official biography at CNN". CNN. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
  9. ^ Arwa Damon (January 1, 2014). "Arwa Damon Investigates: Ivory War". CNN. Archived from the original on December 14, 2021. Retrieved August 13, 2018.
  10. ^ Arwa Damon (August 14, 2018). "How the Antarctic is helping combat climate change". Retrieved August 23, 2018.
  11. ^ Arwa Damon (May 28, 2019). "Nepal's government considers permit restrictions after rash of Everest deaths". www.cnn.com. Retrieved June 2, 2019.
  12. ^ Arwa Damon (May 28, 2019). "Climber: Everest trek was 'race for life'". www.cnn.com. Retrieved June 2, 2019.
  13. ^ Arwa Damon, video and photos by Brice Laine (June 8, 2019). "Arctic melt: Threat beneath the ice". www.cnn.com. Retrieved June 10, 2019.
  14. ^ "INARA – Who we are". www.inara.org. Retrieved August 17, 2018.
  15. ^ Kathryn McQuade (July 26, 2018). "Grant awarded to The International Network for Aid, Relief and Assistance (INARA)". mcquadefoundation.org. Retrieved September 17, 2018.
  16. ^ "Inara Awarded Over $500,000 By Unicef". www.daleel-madani.org. March 29, 2017. Retrieved September 17, 2018.
  17. ^ TK Maloy (June 20, 2017). "INARA: Helping to bridge the gap in medical services for refugee children". Annahar. AN-NAHAR. Archived from the original on September 17, 2018. Retrieved September 17, 2018.
  18. ^ "2012 IRE Award winners". Investigative Reporters and Editors. Archived from the original on October 10, 2017. Retrieved June 30, 2014.
  19. ^ "CNN's Arwa Damon wins 2014 Courage in Journalism Award". CNN. May 16, 2014. Retrieved June 30, 2014.
  20. ^ "Winners of The 33rd Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards". The Emmy Awards. Retrieved June 30, 2014.
  21. IMDb
  22. ^ "Arwa Damon: 2014 Courage in Journalism Award". IWMF. Retrieved June 30, 2014.
  23. ^ Goldstein, Barbara Ross, Sasha (August 4, 2014). "CNN correspondent Arwa Damon apologizes after lawsuit claimed she bit 2 medics in drunken rage at U.S. Embassy in Baghdad". nydailynews.com. Retrieved September 14, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  24. ^ "CNN Sued Over Correspondent Who Bit EMTs in Drunken Rage". TMZ. Retrieved September 14, 2020.

External links