Fr.
Stanislav and I got a late start down due to car troubles, yet was able to
visit one school and three very needy families the first day. The first school
was that of the north, Al Arabia, which is near the frontier not far from where
we enter. This school we helped recently by enlarging the kitchen and
separating it from the children's bathrooms. We were pleased with the
work.
Yet
we found that the roof of the children's bathrooms was penetrated with water.
We took pictures of it. Sabah had shown it to our architect and he said that it
needs to be removed and be replaced with one with a slant, so the water will
run off. Fr. Stan was in agreement of this need and solution. We need to get an
estimate of the cost.
Bro.
Lorenzo had been down for a visit earlier in the months and he saw with Sabah
the three homes which we also visited. The three families which we visited are
in different stages of having their homes renewed. As we arrived at the first
home the man to put in new windows and doors was present and was measuring the
places for the windows and doors. Sabah discussed with him the project, our
driver, who is an honest man has begun to help her to close good materials and
to bargon for the prices with her.
The
second home had a kitchen built which had to be built outside the main
building. It was built one meter smaller than we stipulated. Sabah was very
upset with this and contacted the entrepreneur about it. This home will also
get a cover over the area between the main building and the kitchen and the
bathroom as a protection from the rain and cold. The entrance which is sand for
flooring to the bathroom needs to be covered as well as cover a hole which is
dangerous to all those coming and going.
The
third home of 11 people has had the pipes put in for the bathroom and kitchen
and the walls done. It looks great. They still need the sinks and toilets
installed. The floor was not included in this renovation, yet we see that it is
critical for the family as it is sand and cement which is crisscrossed with of
pipes running to the kitchen and to the bathroom. It will cost an added 1,000
shekels which we must find.
The
two schools which we visited the second day were in the Middle Camps south of
Gaza City. Hannan's School is the one we had hoped could have a second floor
added to be able to include more children. Sabah had the entrepreneur study it
and he said that the building is too old to add a floor. He suggested that they
add a class in front of the building in the play yard. We had provided last
year the flooring for it, so it only needs one full wall, one half wall and two
doors and two windows to create a nice classroom. We must find the funding for
this added room as the children are very crowed in their present classrooms.
Old tables can have new Formica tops put on them for this room as their
metal legs are still in good condition.
Visiting
these homes put us in direct contact with families that had nothing, and we
could see that they had very little food and were hungry. The Missionaries of
Charity said that daily people were coming to them too for food. With the
deterioration of the general situation there we must find money to feed the
very needy again. did write one organization for funding.
We had
to leave early the second day as the price of gasoline went up causing the
prices of taking taxis to rise. The taxis all protested this change by striking
for two hours.
