TRIUNFADORA: Community Leader
— -- Driving through the low-income Darbo/Worthington neighborhood on Madison, Wisconsin's east side, social worker Fabiola Hamdan spots a young woman leaving her red brick apartment building with an infant in her arms.
"How are you doing?" she asks the woman. "Is everything OK?"
Just weeks earlier, the woman's electricity had been shut off when she couldn't pay the bill. Fabiola, 42, worked with a local church to help raise money so her power could be restored. The woman thanks Fabiola and says everything is fine. "Call me, OK?" says Fabiola, before pulling away. "Let's get together and talk."
Throughout this neighborhood and around this entire city, Fabiola helps those who have lost hope. Whether it's standing up for a battered woman or helping a homeless person find shelter, Fabiola has dedicated her life to improving the lives of others.
She understands their struggles because she has lived them. When she arrived in Madison from Bolivia on a cold January day 22 years ago, she did not speak a word of English and had to clean toilets and flip burgers to make ends meet, all while caring for her seriously ill mother.
"I have worked hard to put myself in a position where I can help others," she says. "I feel so lucky. The people I help are my inspiration."
Fabiola grew up watching her parents help others. Lidia and Frittz Lazo, both teachers, traveled with her to rural, poverty-stricken areas of Bolivia where they worked in local schools. Their compassion extended beyond teaching. Before each trip, Fabiola's mother, Lidia, would try to gather a lot of medicines for the poor.
Fabiola's parents also often took children from especially poor families and raised them in their home in La Paz. Some lived with them as long as 10 years.
Lidia's benevolence was all the more remarkable considering she was battling chronic illnesses. In the early 1980s, after numerous inner ear surgeries, she learned she had a rare brain tumor that her doctors said could only be treated in the United States.
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