Visit to Gaza on Thursday, June 5, 2008

Brother Lorenzo and myself - Brother Joe - met Sabah and Ahmad, the taxi driver, about 9:30AM. Passage through the checkpoint was rather smooth. We went immediately to the Main Center of the Daher Associate in Shijayyia . We help the Zakhar Kindergarten one of the nursery schools they sponsor in Sha’af area. After a discussion with Sabah about the conditions for summer camps and record keeping, Br. Lorenzo gave the principal NIS1,200, the stipulated cost of one summer camp, and promised on return to Bethany to see if funds were available for supporting a second summer camp since they work with over 120 children in the kindergarten, far too many for one camp.
From there we went to the Arab Palestinian Front, Main Center where we met Fawziyya who runs the kindergarten In Beit Hanoun and also participates in the emergency food distribution. It was safer to meet Fawziyya in Gaza City, as well as the fact the since kindergartens have been closed for several weeks, we would not be able to meet any of the children or teachers. It was at this meeting that Br. Lorenzo purchased six handmade rugs to assist financially the women of the society.
Then along with Fawziyya we went to the Association of Women Committees for Social Work to meet Maha and Mohammad to discuss food distribution. Before the discussion, Br. Lorenzo distributed funds for the summer camps administered by Mohammad in the Mosaddar area and Fawziyya in the Beit Hanoun area, as well as giving funds for two other camps that we could not visit this time.
The discussion about the food distribution began with the statement that the funds for June and July and hopefully August would be NIS 23,000 regardless of the exchange rate. This was followed by a discussion concerning a major revision in the methodology. Sabah suggested and the others agreed that since some families do not need all of the food items that we supply in bulk, arrangements be made with food markets that the families come on a certain specified day of the month to choose the food that they need up to the amount of NIS 200 per family.
One of the team, involved with the food distribution, would be present at each market to observe and monitor the distribution. This was accepted by Brother Lorenzo and myself as a good suggestion and we could try it for one month and then analyze the revised system.
With the short time remaining Fawziyya brought us to one of the poor families on her distribution list to take photographs for the donors. I have seen too many poor families and have some reservations about photographs, so I decided to remain outside the home.
There I had a clear view of Ashkelon because of the treeless and building less surroundings. It was easy to see why Beit Lahia is a place for firing rockets on Israel. Needless to say I was rather nervous and prayed that no missiles from Ashkelon were fired while we were there. Incidentally the very next morning, several missiles were fired into Beit Lahia causing several deaths and injuries
That ended our interesting and successful business day. We took Sabah home on our way to Eretz. Exiting took less than an hour and by 2:30 PM we were on our way to Bethany with a sigh of relief. As always I am relieved on getting into the car and moving out of the checkpoint area. I feel like I am going into prison after leaving passport control and walking through the passageways lined with iron pipes to exit the checkpoint building and continuing for several hundred more yards through the old and now dilapidated covered walkway, used before the new facilities were built ,to reach the open air and rocky, uneven sandy ground and chewed up tarmac until finally reaching the taxi area about a twenty minute walk all told, and then at the end of the visit reversing that walk through the more closely controlled passageways, the cage-like body control area before reaching passport control moving though the last locked door before exiting the building to the care.
This is the closes I get to the everyday feelings of the Palestinian people.
I must add one impression about the visit that surprised me but made me so proud of the Gazans. On our way from Shijayya to Gaza City we passed through a thriving market area, bustling with activity with cars and donkey drawn carts blocking the roads, horns blowing, people walking between cars.
Markets of all varieties not just food were busy, people in and out, noise, laughter, peddlers barking and everything that one finds in a bustling city. I mentioned this to Sabah and she said that while the economy is terrible and we are hungry, we must still live and we do the best we can under the circumstances. And a glaring one was that for the past three days electricity has been cancelled for 10 hours and usually during daytime. It was hot, hot that Thursday, A/C is rare, a few fans, no breezes from the nearby sea.