Visit October 2021

 

VISIT OCTOBER 24 AND 25 OF 2021

Sr. Frantiska and I were asked to be in Gaza to see a NGO L’Oeuvre de l’Orient who supports our Medical program in Gaza now for several years. We were asked only a few days before to go so Sabah, Fr. Gabriel, his man in charge of permits worked hard to get us the needed documents. We were to be at the Mass in Gaza that morning. The journalist met us after Mass and asked us to return at 4 pm as he had other people to see. Sabah sent the driver and we went to the office and had schawamers sandwiches and talked about the recent events in Gaza. After we still had time to visit three very poor families. The photos which I took share the realities of their lives.  Several had members with special needs. Two have homes which let the rains and cold of the winter months that are approaching penetrate so that everyone and everything is soaked. One home has no water in the bathroom nor in the kitchen and the mother cooks outside over a wood fire. One Father of the family is from Egypt so they can get no assistance from any organization. For each family we help them with food and medications. After we were back at the Missionaries of Charity to see the journalist.

The following day we met with all the directors of the pre-schools. They main topic off their conversation was that they are grateful to be able to keep their school open as Al Omri provides the fees for the majority of the children who cannot afford to go to the schools.

Another big topic of conversation was hopeful as now 1,000 workers are allowed to get permits to work or trade in Israel. If this number can grow it will have a great impact on the economic crises which now exists in Gaza. Eighty percent of the population now depends on food packages from many different sources. Please pray with us that many more men will be able to work in Israel. Entering and leaving we saw hundreds of men going in or leaving at the border. It was truly great to see.

Sr. Susan

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Visit July 2021

 

In July I were delighted to go down to Gaza after being absent for one year and a half. It felt so right to be there. Seeing Sabah, Wesel, Fawyseh and Mohamed again made me feel right at home. The debris from the destruction was still being scooped up with heavy machinery, carried away and roads were being opened again. In this last war they shelled residential area and high rise apartments mainly. In the last war Hamas building had been shelled.

Having had troubles getting my permit to enter I spent two hours in a new building waiting in the heat to enter. Sabah and Sami our driver were a welcome sight when they came with the document allowing me to enter.

The main reason for this visit was to go to the bank to solve some long lasting problem. Again we had some hitches. I never made any headway and hopefully Bro. Lorenzo and I will go down together and get things worked out in September. We both have our signatures for our bank account in case that either of us is away and we can still take money out.

Sabah brought me up on the situation. We have no problems with getting medications for the very poor monthly. The pre-schools are still closed until the middle of August or September first. No building material are allowed in yet after the war so we cannot continue for the moment to renovate homes. The funding has been promised us for two or three homes. The food distribution to 100 poor families continues until the end of September. 

A real concern is that none of the families who send their children to the pre-schools can pay the small fees monthly for their children. We hope to meet in September and try to work out a solution so our three pre-schools can continue.

Pictures will follow which tells the results of the short but powerful shelling lf the last war.

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Info June 2021

 

June Events

With the pre-schools closed it was a quieter month for Sabah and Wasel. Yet they were able to continue with the medical program. They change the region each month so that we don’t serve the same people monthly. Still families with disabled people have priority. We are able to give diapers to about 14 individuals monthly also and these people have different handicaps.

They also visited many new families; names that have been given them these last months in order to decide what families are most in need of food. Here priorities have been given to those who lost their home in the last war. Sr. Frantiska and I hope to visit Gaza and to go to see some of these families this month when we receive our permits to go there. One hundred families have been chosen to receive the 14 items in each bag. It is all dry foods due to little electricity for refrigeration. The items included are soap for personal hygiene, washing dishes and laundry.

Next month in August, when the pre-schools are open for registering children for the fall  Sabah and Wasel will be choosing a fourth school for us to replace the Musaddar Pre-School which one of our benefactors have begun to sponsor. They have three schools in mind to visit.

Photos of the women and one young girls are here to show who received medications for June.

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Infos May 2021

 

For those who have followed the events this month in Gaza you know that May tenth began the war in Israel and in Gaza which last eleven days ending on May 21^st.Like the other post-war realities we began to receive donations to help us reach the hunger and the homeless now over 32,000 who were living mostly in the UNERWA schools. Yet this time, Sabah who directs our programs there was not totally over the COVID which she had contacted a few weeks previously. For the eleven days of the war nightly shelling gave little possibility to sleep or go out on the streets. She and her husband who lived in an area which was heavily shelled had to move in with friends.

Tomorrow almost one week after the end of the war many people are still in shock. Others are busy cleaning and moving the rubble from homes and streets. Last Monday we had hoped to get urgent medications to people; the streets were not passable, now we hope to do this next Monday. Sabah is feeling stronger, yet is not fully herself. We feared that our office was damaged, yet the windows are still there and it only needed a good cleaning. Funding came in to feed 200 families in June 100 more than what we do monthly. The pre-Schools are closed probably until September. Today our two women will begin to visit the hard hit families in the north where the shelling was the worst. The families also need hygiene kits with the basic items that they need immediately. The pictures included with this update will be taken by them today.

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March and April 2021

 

March and April 2021

In March we were able to continue our programs with seeing that the children in the four pre-schools had a good meal daily. The sick received their medications as usual. New outfits were delivered to all the children in our schools, so over 400 children received a new set of clothing. The photos of this month shows their joy when they received outfits.

April brought a higher rate of the COVID to Gaza. As a result the government closed the schools again as a precaution. Ramadan started the 14^th of the month and many families asked Sabah and Wasel for food due to the fast. They doubled the number of families needing food due to the generosity of our Al Omri benefactors. We will be able to continue this food program again for the next six months.

Sabah, our coordinator of our programs, and her husband both contacted the COVID. At first Sabah didn’t feel that she had it badly. Yet with time and continued fatigue she went to the hospital where they gave her extensive tests. The results showed no serious problems. They suggested that she stay at home and rest for a few days which she is doing. Her husband had other effects from the virus which were less serious than those of Sabah. We are grateful to the Lord that neither of them were seriously ill.

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February 2021

FEBRUARY 2021

 

We are still not allowed to go down to Gaza, yet Sabah and our social worker Wasel continue our programs there.

We are having banking problems so this month we were unable to repair a home which we regret as we have had some heavy rains which are hard on families where the rain enters the roof, windows and sometimes even the doors to the outside.

We have been able to give 100 very poor families a bag of food still and many of these families have a handicapped person or more in the family. Some families have up to five members disabled.

The sick who cannot buy their medications are helped. Monthly we provide the medication for 40 to 45 individuals. They are children, the elderly and all ages who need medications. Fifteen individuals receive diapers monthly also.

The schools opened in the middle of the month. This means that our pre-schools opened suddenly. We hope that they will be safe for these three and four year olds who are now back in classes. 

The good news this week is that the vaccine is getting to Gaza now. We pray that this will help to slow down the pace for which many are getting the virus. Gaza has had a high percentage of people contacting the COVIT. The hospital there do not have the equipment to deal with severe cases of the virus.

Br. Lorenzo is still in Italy unable to return. He is caring for two brothers with the corona. After he receives his two vaccines we hope that he will be free to return. 

Thanks to our benefactors we are able to continue to serve the population in this time of financial need.

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