Post War update

 

Post War update

As not to leave many of our friends and benefactors in the dark about the situation in the South I am sharing what I know having to be very prudent this will have to be short this time.

The war began on October 7^th. and Sabah’s six-story home was demolished about two or three days after. She has gotten short messages out to me which say they are still okay, her and her husband. They have little water and food. Wasel our social worker was okay the first few days after the war and after we’ve had no news of her. Our two ladies have been running our programs for years and now all has come to a halt. We are not sure if the building where we rented an office is still standing. Our bank is in the same region and we don’t know if it is still standing and functioning. These three buildings were all in the Remal area of the city which was one of the first areas to be leveled. 

We are totally in the dark as to how we can help the population at this point. None of the borders are open and all five of us do not have our permits to enter as they have expired and we’ve been waiting to have them renewed. No one can help us get them renewed until after the war.

You see I have very little information to share with you. Still, we thank many of you who have written me telling me of your concern and many prayers for the situation. As soon as I know anything of importance I will add it to this website. Please keep up the prayers!

Abundant blessings on all of you,

Sr. Susan and Team

Visit September 2023

September Visit on the 5th. and the 6th..

 

Yearly in September, we go down to visit the schools of Gaza to see how many children are registered and to know their needs for this coming year. It appears now that we have 350 little ones ages 3 to 5 years old. 

We saw many red eyes and tears in the classroom of the 3-year-olds who were going to school for the first time. They were having registration and two of the schools had already two classes of children in action. The teachers play a lot of games at the start to get them used to school. We hope to get them school materials: crayons, colored pencils, paint, etc for the children and the teachers. We visited three schools and Sabah had gathered the information when she visited two schools as we were late at arriving the first day. The parents purchase a workbook for their child, often paying for them after payday at the end of the month if one has a job.

It was extremely hot in the 30ies those two days and the electricity is on only 2 to 4 hours a day now. We try to be sure that each class has enough windows so the children can see as they work.

Each school has a different list of needs for their school. We hope that we have the funding to cover these items such as tables, chairs, whiteboards, bottled gas for the kitchen, etc.

A few more people are allowed to leave Gaza now to work or to visit relatives abroad. They can go to Jordan now and from there go abroad.

We hope that this next academic year will bring peace as war increases the poverty of many.

 

                                  September 8, 2023

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Visit June 2023

 Visit June 20^th. 2023

Sr. Fantiska and I went down for the day only. Renovations had been done for a family and the school of Fawyseh also had her bathrooms renovated. We started our visit seeing Fawyseh’s School and were very pleased to see the walls of the bathroom stalls were up and the sink for the children and water taps were installed. About half the work is still to be done.

After we went to see the family whose home had been completed. They needed many rooms to be renovated. We saw these areas completed: roof, flooring tiles in some rooms, and tile on the walls in the bathroom and kitchen. A bathroom, and a kitchen needed new fixtures. Best of all was seeing how happy all the family was. Again the rooms were very clean and organized. The handicapped girl of about 9 years old was clean and well cared for by her older sisters. The mother has poor vision or no vision in one eye. She does all the washing by hand for the large family; she asked if we could help her buy a washing machine for 400 shekels. We agreed that they need it. 

After we spent our time with Sabah discussing the summer needs. She will be away all of July and much of August so we needed to know how our programs will continue during those months. Wasel will still work during those months so things have been prepared for July and much of August. She will be helped by Sami our driver and by Summer; both have experience with our three programs which run in the summer months.

Visit May 2023

 

May visit to Gaza

Sr. Frantiska and I hadn’t gone down for some time as we didn’t have our permit renewed to enter.  Br. Lorenzo had gone down by himself and chose the next home that we would renew.

Over a week ago we tried going to Gaza and were halfway there when Sabah called us telling us that the border was closed due to the shelling. We tried again on the 16^th. and 17^th. to go down as we were assured that the war was over and the border was open and all went well.

Sabah and the driver Sami were there to meet us as usual. We went to Fawyseh’s School first which is near to the entrance. All were well there and a nice meal of meat, vegetables, and rice was being served. The teachers told us of the children who were still traumatized by the heavy shelling. We visited the Sumi School which was not far from the border also and they too were serving the same meal. It was interesting as the children most often ate the meat first. Probably they never had it at home. The Japanese NGO will renovate the interior of the school during the summer months.

Following this we went to see the family who will be having renovations done in June. They are a family of ten children. The parents are first cousins and the mother has no sight in one eye; an 8-year-old daughter is disabled and very active. Their home needs: a new roof, water was coming from the roof when we were there. They also need a renovated kitchen and bathroom. 

That afternoon we were invited to lunch with all the directresses of the four schools and Mohamad as Sabah supervises his school for their benefactor. All of them seemed to need to share the events of the war; it had been very stressful for them too.

On the second day, we visited first the two schools in the middle area. Both were again serving nice meals for the children. All five schools will be having their end-of-the-year party for the children on the 28^th. or 29^th. of May. This will be the last day of school for them all. We can’t afford to help them have summer camps these last few years as they are expensive.

One home we had completed in this area in April we went to visit. We were so happy to see the results of the renovations. The mother a widow was so happy with everything. A bit of money was left over and with it, she was able to buy a plastic rug and a carpet for the living room. They needed a washing machine so she was able to purchase one which she showed us with a big smile.

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Our new brochure

 Our new brochure

Visit February 2023

 

February 2023

We had a meeting to discuss several new events on Monday the 6^th. and on Tuesday three of us went down to Gaza. Despite rain wind and cold, we were able to do a lot with Sabah and Wasel. The first day we started out by visiting the new school where we had just had an old bathroom taken down and a new one built. The children were not there due to the weather as the two days the schools were all closed. Secondly, we visited a family in the middle camps area whose home we had begun to renovate. Most of the family was present. Three of the youngest children had bear feet.  We couldn’t resist giving money to Sabah to see that these three got new shoes. All the children were handicapped mentally.

After we went to our office to discuss the issues covered at our meeting. Our social worker’s kitchen roof fell in so she asked for her indemnities early and we saw that she received them. She has two daughters at University and she lost her husband two months ago. Our ladies who work for us encouraged us to start a program for the elderly as there is a great need for many of them to receive shampoo, hygiene materials, and diapers. For now, we haven’t the funding to do it. Perhaps in the future, we can. We decided that we can give a bag of food to 200 families for Ramadan in March.

On the second day, we started out by going to the bank to get some information. After we visited the distribution of the medicines that we give out monthly. We saw about five of the 45 who received their medications at a pharmacy that day. Following we went to the middle camps area of the Musaddar School as there were 100 families receiving their 14 items of food and two soaps that month. Each month we serve another area and other families. Winter shows so vividly the poverty of the families who came for their food. Many looked very hungry and thin. Some came with donkeys and carts and collected food for their neighbors also. That was our experiences this last trip down.

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Visit January 2023

 

January visit the 10^th. and the 11^th. 2023

Sr. Frantiska and Sr. Susan went down as Fr. George couldn’t join us this time due to other commitments. Sabah met us at the border and we started our day with a visit to Fawyseh’s school in the north. The children were busy either eating in turns outside as it was warm out. Others were learning their letters or numbers inside and one class was doing exercises to music. We found everything clean and orderly and serving a nice meal of macaroni and meat.

Following we visited three very poor homes in the same area. I had just rained and there was wet sand everywhere even inside as the floors were of sand in several homes. Two home were tents. The government will not allow them to build a concrete block house as the property belongs to the government. We help these families by seeing that they get a bag of food from time to time.

After we went to a place near the beach where the heads of the school met for a meeting and they provided us all with a meal after. Again being it a warm day we could sit outside at simple tables. We went straight to the Missionaries of Charity in the late afternoon. They have a new superior who we know from her being there seven years earlier. We had a warm welcome as usual. We also visited with Fr. Gabriel after Mass.

The following day we needed to go to the bank. After this we went to our office and discussed with our two ladies the current situation. The children will be on semester break now for two weeks. We will replace the bathroom in the new school which is in a bad condition with a new one. The homes in the Musaddar area that we visited last time we will renovate as it is in a terrible condition en general. Ramadan will be coming, so our team will meet in Jerusalem in February to decide how we can give extra food to families. Now we are feeding 100 a month. We left that afternoon being pleased with the two days and being very grateful to our benefactors.

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