Meet Your Hosts

Rasha Abousalem is a Palestinian-American humanitarian aid worker and researcher. She has visited over 40 refugee camp sites around the world and has worked with refugee, underprivileged, and indigenous populations. She was born in Abu Dhabi (UAE) and came to the United States when she was around 4 years old. She grew up in New Jersey, which she has been told “explains a lot.” Rasha loves the outdoors, traveling, meeting new people, and trying new foods. Anyone who knows her knows her favorite motherland dish is grapeleaves! She is fluent in Arabic and rusty in Spanish.

Yael Shomroni is an Israeli-American peace activist and potter. She was born in Tel-Aviv and is fluent in Hebrew, speaks English good enough, and is fluent in sarcasm. She made her final move back to the US in 1998, and has never looked back. She is an avid native wildlife gardener. Yael is a self-described cat lady.