Two day in Gaza: an eye opener! - March 10 and 11, 2014

This time Sabah and Wasel had Fr. Roberto and I busy. The first day we visited eight families all with one member who was ill and often with two or three members who were ill!

None of these families could pay for medical treatment of any sort. None of these families had a person working so no income was available. The neighbors helped them out with some food only. There are very few organizations which give out food monthly now in Gaza. Most of the eight families had more than two members with special needs. One particularly disturbing family had five women ages 20 to 40 who have severe brain damage. They all could walk, yet none could speak. The father is deceased and a little lady, their mother, cares for them alone. They are all in dippers and need clothing.

We will try to help them with dippers and clothing. Two families live in makeshift houses, which are really shacks. The rain and cold comes in everywhere. One family has a cement block home and we hope to find funding to replace a leaking roof. Only one family had furniture and they are gradually selling it so that their son of 25 years old can have kidney transplant in Jordan. We will help with the transportation for him.

The second day we visited our new school located in the Middle Camps area. We are really pleased with the directress who has experience and vision as improvements are made. We outfitted their kitchen so that the children were already receiving a hot meal daily. They have an asepsis roof and this is dangerous for the children so we hope to help them put in a wooden ceiling in order to protect the children. We were able to visit two other schools also.

Gaza is going through a very tough period of their history. The older men say that they have not been so deprived since 1936. Even Sabah our lady who has worked for years for us admits that she is very discouraged due to the political and economic crises there. Please keep the people of Gaza in your prayers. If the boarders would open the Christians would definitely leave and many others.

One nice inter faith meeting happened between some women of whom we work, Fr. Jorge of the parish and the Missionaries of Charity. These women had heard about the two bombs which landed in the parish compound near the church two weeks before. They went to tell Father of their regrets that this happened. They never knew that the Missionaries of Charity cared for the children with special needs and the elderly women so they visited the children and ladies. All came away very impressed. Here are some pictures of our two days, March 10 and 11.

Sr. Susan Sheehan