Visit July 2018

Visit July 2018

Lorenzo and I went down for only a day this time as it was a busy month for each of us. Both of us needed our permits renewed on the Gaza side of the boarder. The parish priest or his staff help us with this. Fr. Mario was out of the area ,so one of the staff did it for us. This meant a trip first thing to the parish.

Sabah had two families whom she wanted us to see; they each had children with disabilities. The first family had one young man of 26 years old who suffered with mental illness which kept him inside in fear that he would run away. He has his violent moments.  The home was clean and the young man was clean and laying on a mattress on the floor that was also clean. The apartment had hardly any furniture and their poverty was evident. 

The second family has five adult children and their brain damage renders walking difficult for each one. They all have mental limitations

which are visible on their faces and in their actions. The parents seem normal. One of their sons is married to a woman who seems normal and they have two young boys who seem normal. The grandparents fear that if these boys grow up with all the others who are brain damaged that they too will be effected by the others.  Sabah has sought help for them to have an apartment of their own yet has had no success so far. This house has a few more furnishings and is very clean as are all the members of the family.

The food distribution continues for the 170 families and the medical needs for 35 to 40 children and adults continues these summer months.

Politically things are up in the air and we pray for a just solution to the situation in Gaza.

Photogallery

Visit May 2018

End of May visit by Bro. Lorenzo and Sr. Sandra

This visit was for the day only as the schools closed for the summer in mid-May.  Still they went to visit the Musaddar School which is always a center of activity as it serves the whole area. They saw the food distribution for this very poor rural area. For some very poor families they delivered bags of food. The pictures of these families show their story. One very large family who we have known for a long time has been able to build a house to live in as they have always been in a tent. They are a Bedouin family who now numbers 50 people in all. Several sons have married and begun families of their own. 

For those who have been following our activities in Gaza the bank did not close, so we are able to distribute food to 170 families for the next six months. We thank you who have been praying with us so that the bank would not close. 

Politically it was a very difficult month before Ramadan began. Every Friday there were demonstrations, deaths and injuries. Medicines are very scarce, amputations of limbs especially legs are frequent. It has continued despite Ramadan and the political future is very uncertain. Gaza continues to be like a big prison. Egypt opened its border, but Hamas gives only the elderly or sick the permission to leave.

Photogallery

Food distribution

April 2018

This month we began our food distribution for 70 families due to a donation which came in from our community. It is a “God Sent” in that the situation in Gaza has worsened greatly this month Abu Mazen of Fetta from the West Bank who pays the salaries of the municipality workers cut off the salaries due to a dispute with the Hamas government which controls the Gaza Strip. The results is that thousands of employees have had no income all month and this means very little to no food.

Last month already things were getting very bad. If you recall that we had visited on family of 6 women who hadn’t eaten in three days. 

Families with members who are disabled are the priority as it was very difficult to decide which families needed food the most. The pictures included with this news shows you the items given each family and how some of their members are disabled. Our two ladies go to different shops to get good quality food at the lowest prices. They decide what should be included in the bags for each family and set a day for distribution. The family comes usually by donkey cart and sign that they have received the food and take their bag of food and often the bags of the other people in their area. 

There is a possibility that our bank will be closed in Gaza which will impede our three programs going on there. Money for May has been transferred, yet the summer months are not assured. Please pray with us that our bank can remain open.The pre-schools close in the summer, but the sick need medications and the very poor need food. 

Photogallery

Visit March 2018

March Visit

No one was free or had their coordination to go down with me so I went alone this time. Sabah and Wasel both meet me at the border and we visited the one school that I hadn’t visited in February. It is located in the poorest area of the old City of Gaza City. This area was heavily hit in the last war. The Zahar School opened only two years ago after existing under the same name but in another location. Contrary to our other schools the number of students have decreased as there are several new pre-schools opened in the area run by Hamas. The people being poor find it hard to pay the small fee at the Zahar School, so they go to the Hamas Schools which are free. They are down to 45 children in only two classes. They have two classrooms empty. We will try to have them make their school known m in the fall so that more children who parents do not want their children to go to a Hamas pre-school to know that this exists and it offers a meal along with a good education.

We visited the three homes that we had sponsored for renovations. They all received windows, doors, flooring, bathrooms and kitchens. The families did not know that we were coming and we found them all very clean and orderly. The mothers seemed to take heart and do better housekeeping. One father and his brother did all the work of installing items and repairing their home. He was all smiles as we admired the changes which we encountered. The third family which we visited at the end of our stay the mother cried and said that they had not eaten for three days. We could see no signs of food in the kitchen and so we gave them some money to buy some food and promised that in the near future that they would be receiving some food. Lorenzo had given Sabah some money for food for the very poorest families.

We also had an errand to the bank.

Politically things are very unstable as Albass of Fatah and Hamas have not united, but rather split. It appears that Hamas will take over all the cost of funding salaries, electrify, the entry of medicines, control of the boarders and all the Ministries of the government in Gaza. This is quite a blow to the majority of the people who are very poor who depend on donations of food and salaries, if they are fortunate enough to have a job with the government. In the last six to eight months Hamas has only paid their staff one thousand shekels every three months. People cannot eat properly with such a small salary and must depend on social Services and NGOs. We met with the directors of the schools and this was the topic of conversation. 

We covered a lot of ground the first day as the second day I had to leave early due to other commitments. I lodged as usual with the Missionaries of Charity who are always very welcoming.

Perhaps there are no pictures with this news bit this time as the pictures have already been put in recently about the home renovations.

Photogallery

We need your help for too family in emergency

Family from the Zaitoun area

The Zaitoun area is an old and very poor section of Gaza City. The family owns their own home which is very small. This room is on the roof of the building. It is used for eating, sleeping and for the bathroom. It is not sanitary, so the children have many skin problems. It is one small room with no kitchen or bathroom. The electricity, as it is wired, is not safe. The roof is old made of Zengo or corrugated metal. As a result it is very hot in the summer and cold in the winter. The mother must carry water from a water tank on a higher roof.

The father works cleaning a small shop near earing 10 NIS or about $2.40 daily. He has a wife and three children and with this small sum they cannot even buy milk for the children. The oldest child is four years old.

The cost of the renovations of this small home is: the bathroom 4,000

                                                                       The kitchen    3,500

                                                            Windows and doors   1,500

                                                         Roof for the one room   2,000

                                                                                 Labor  2,000

                                                                                  Total 13,000 which is $3,700

We ask our readers if anyone could please help this family in need of a proper home for this young family to help us to find the funding to renovate their home.

Photogallery

March – Family from Shegaylia Area

The Shegaylia area is a very old and very poor area of Gaza City. It was heavily hit by shelling in the last war.

This is a family of six who live in a house which is own by the father’s father. When the son married he tried to build a floor on the roof for his family. He was able to only build the walls and roof on the room that they have. Yet it has no bathroom or kitchen nor has it any windows or doors. The family must go downstairs to his parents’ home to the bathroom. When it is very cold and rainy they all go down to sleep on the floor in the grandparents’ house. This is because water enters everywhere in their home on the roof.

The father works for 20 NIS a day and this is not enough for food and milk for the family. They are missing nutritious meals and basic needs.

The grandfather is very ill and will soon have open heart surgery. Being he is ill he hasn’t work so they have no income now for some time. Their home is very damp and unhealthy. They too are very poor.

The cost needed to make the home suitable to live in on the top floor means replacing the doors, windows and putting in a bathroom and a kitchen. The total sum to make these repairs is 5,000 NIS or $1,500. If any of our readers would be able to help us find this sum it would greatly assist this family of six to live in a healthy home.

Photogallery