Questscope grew out of a vision of how people and communities could join together to Put the Last, First across the Middle East. Dr. Curt Rhodes, Questscope’s founder, notes:

“In the early 1980’s, as Assistant Dean in the School of Public Health at the American University in Beirut—seeing many of my students angry and frustrated by seemingly endless conflict—I began to invite them to give their lives to the most vulnerable kids in our city. Both kids’ lives and students' lives were transformed.

As war broke out again in Lebanon in 1982, I was asked to do around-the-clock medical triage with women and children, some of whom were elderly, mentally or physically disabled, hiding in makeshift underground shelters. Many did not survive.

These experiences, along with prior years of living and working with people in great poverty of body but with indomitable spirit, compelled me to find a way that I and others in the Middle East could put the last first. People and communities could be changed. That way has become Questscope.”

Curt established Questscope in Jordan in 1990—developing a staff, many volunteers, and community supporters—to give street kids, vulnerable women, and others a second chance at life. These initiatives worked.

• Alternative education and vocational tracks have been developed for more than 7,000 dropouts in Jordan, including working kids and youth who have had to flee other Middle Eastern countries.

• Over 4,000 college students were trained as mentors for kids in Jordan correctional institutions and community settings.

• Women developed peer groups and micro-enterprise ventures that helped hundreds of them reclaim their lives.

• Volunteers stepped forward and have been trained to assist the families of prisoners in nine Middle Eastern and North African countries.

• Leaders and groups beyond Jordan—in Northern Iraq, Yemen, and Sudan—have become very interested in learning Questscope’s methods.

Today Questscope and hundreds of our community and institutional partners create second chances together for approximately 10,000 people each year, in Jordan and other parts of Middle East and North Africa. Questscope also works intentionally to build the capacity of each community and institutional partner.