UAE: Teen who created affordable soap to treat skin cancer set to get Zayed Award

Khaleej Times

31-01-2025

A 15-year-old who invented soap for skin cancer and World Central Kitchen (WCK), an organisation that has been feeding victims of humanitarian crises and natural disasters since 2010, was among the honorees of the $1 million-dollar Zayed Award for Human Fraternity this year.
Spending the early years of his life in Ethiopia where skin cancer was a prominent threat to residents who had limited access to treatment, Heman Bekele was triggered to find a widely usable and affordable cure away from surgery or complex technological treatments.
The 10th-grade Ethiopian American did extensive research and has been experimenting with all kinds of chemical mixtures since he was a child, until a recent research paper introduced him to the compound drug imidazoquinoline, which had shown potential in treating skin cancer.
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'At first, I thought of using it to create a lotion for skin cancer, but then I realised that we need a universal product, something that everybody uses, everyone would buy, whether you're in a third world country, or in a first world country,' Bekele said.
Soap was the most universal daily routine product he could think of; after obtaining the compound, he synthesized and incorporated it into a soap formula at a lab he was interning at.
While the product has undergone initial testing on mice, showing promising results, 'the road to clinical use is long', he said, as it requires extensive approvals and trials before it can reach medical facilities or store shelves.
'I am currently conducting further research under the guidance of Dr Rita Rebecca at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School for Public Health.' While it may take years for his soap to be available for patients, the young inventor's work signals a promising step toward affordable cancer treatment worldwide. Furthermore, Bekele plans to use the prize money to launch, in a week and a half, his own philanthropic organisation, the Heman Foundation.
Bekele's dream
'The dream is to one day, in my home country of Ethiopia, build a affordable and accessible hospital. That's a very long-term goal, but I really want to open branches of philanthropic good, as well as pursue my passion for science into creating more cancer treatment and healthcare innovations,' he concluded.
The Global food relief organisation WCK has been on the forefront of crises worldwide to secure a warm meal for affected communities. Founded by Chef José Andrés in 2010, the organisation has produced 300 million meals in over 30 countries, including turmoil hotspots. Overcoming political restraints, the WCK team managed to provide Palestinians in Gaza with over 70 million meals since the Israeli bombardment began in October 2023, after the UAE paved access.
'The UAE was incredibly instrumental in World Central Kitchen's ability to open the Maritime Corridor. We were the first organization or government for that matter to get food aid from Cyprus to Gaza,' said its CEO Erin Gore.
She believes the core behind gaining access to conflict zones around the world lies in the fact that food is always perceived as a solution not a problem, 'so it's hard to say no (to granting access).'
Feed more people
The CEO said the prize money will help them extend their feeding hands to more troubled areas of the world; 'we'll be able to feed more people, plain and simple, and that means the world to us'.
WCK operates by partnering with local chefs, volunteers, and suppliers in vulnerable crisis-hit areas, who often become permanent contributors to the central kitchen in their regions. Chef Aline Kamakian, who helped prepare millions of meals becoming the focal point for WCK in Lebanon and Armenia, is one of them.
The Armenian-Lebanese chef's journey began with WCK in 2020, in the aftermath of the devastating Beirut port explosion. She lost her restaurant, her home, and was injured in the blast, driving her to find purpose amid the chaos.
'With whatever we had left — wood, rice, anything — we started cooking for those around us. That's when Chef José saw me on TV and came to Lebanon to help; that's how I joined World Central Kitchen,' she recalled.
We love to cook traditional, homey meals that give people a sense of comfort,' she explained. 'Many displaced individuals join us in the kitchen. It's a kind of therapy—cooking, talking, and feeling a sense of normalcy.'
In 2023, during the Azerbaijani offensive on Armenia, she reached out to WCK for support, helping to feed 120,000 internally displaced people. 'We are chefs. We cook. That's how we help,' she said. 'During war, food is your only comfort. It's why we cook traditional meals—it reminds people of home, even when they have lost everything.'
The 55-year-old now leads a network of 23 WCK kitchens, ensuring that tens of thousands of displaced individuals receive a warm meal every day, preparing 50,000 meals daily across Lebanon. She also managed to re-open her restaurant Mayrig in Ashrafieh, Beirut, which was the first officially Armenian restaurant to open outside of Armenia after the country gained its independence in 2002.
Efforts against climate change
Barbados Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley was also among the honorees for her championing efforts against climate change — her country faces direct threats of disappearing if the temperature doesn't remain below 1.5.
'She has been a human, an advocate for inclusivity, for humanity, but particularly in relation to climate,' said Patricia Scotland, Commonwealth Secretary General. 'Barbados is one of the 25 small island developing states within the Commonwealth who are facing daily the existential threat of climate change for many of those countries. If we don't keep the temperature below one point five, they will disappear.'
The Zayed Award for Human Fraternity announced its 2025 honorees on Friday in the UAE capital. The award, aimed at individuals and organisations, is adjudicated by its independent jury for their notable contributions to pressing societal issues and nurturing peace and solidarity across diverse communities – both globally and at the grassroots level. The $1million prize is divided between the winners.