Tuesday’s Child Blog

Following Yonder Star to Gaza – Day 2
Wednesday 6th January 2010

“For a Light is coming into the world, the true Light that enlightens everyone” John 1:1-18

Today is the feast day of the Epiphany, the manifestation of the Christ child’s gift of peace to all nations of the world. We pray today to the Infant Child to shine His light into the hearts and minds of those capable of ending this collective punishment of the people of Gaza and inspire an equitable peace solution that will set these people free.

We start this morning with a visit to a new family in need of support with a food. The mother weeps as she describes the situation for her children. The father of the family is unemployed since 2000 and one of his daughters is disabled. The family struggle to cope and it is clear they are in need of urgent assistance. They will start the feeding programme at the end of the month and in the meantime we leave some cash assistance to tide them over.

Driving along much of the rubble in this area has cleared and people have made an attempt to make homes and partition off areas with whatever they can, be it corrugated iron or rags of material. A year on from the war, windows remain unfixed, no glass or any building material can access the strip. With the weather turning very cold now, especially at night time (-1 last night), homes use whatever they can to keep out the cold. As we drive along, blue sheeting, blankets, rugs, all cover former windows and while they may help with the cold, must let little light and a lot of dust in.

Man in front of his former home

Families partition off temporary living areas

Apartment block with former windows covered with sheeting and blankets to keep out cold

Children are playing on the street and we stop and give them toys brought from home much to their delight. I ask them what they like at school, arabic is the most common answer and when it comes to career aspirations we have doctors, teachers, ambulance men, journalists and lawyers in this group. Amazing how children absorb the environment here, however great they have such high aspirations.

We pass a small camp of about 12 dwellings and again give out toys for the children. The hand puppets seem particularly popular! As we drive a long, I put one puppet out of the window and wave to people as we go, much to the amusement of passers-by including policemen. Important to always try and lift people’s spirits here, even in little ways.

Puppet fun in Beit Lahyia

Toys for children in small camp

We stop at an innovative project where a group of men are crushing stones through a home made cutter. It is incredible to watch. Donkeys draw rubble laden carts, boulders are collected and put through a home made cutter attached to a generator. The end result is a powder set into bricks. I make a short video and in the middle of it, the donkey gives me a nudge, almost as if to let me know he is helping too. These people are incredibly resourceful and wonderful to see their determination in making their own bricks in the absence of proper building materials. A young boy helps his father with the work and he explains the process to us. No need to ask what he will do when he grows up! Many of these children are very mature for their age. They all seem happy in their work and their indominatable spirit is admirable.

Donkey draws cart loads of rubble

Rubble gathered into buckets for cutting in stone cutter behind

The end result - stone bricks

Young boy helping on the brick making project

Just a short distance along, a group of children play. We give out more toys and talk to them for awhile. In this group we have more teachers, a footballer, a lawyer, a business manager, a cameraman and a human rights lawyer!

Children of Gaza with high career aspirations

Our next stop is with a family I met in the food programme in July at one of the distribution points. They had invited me to their home and as there was not enough time we promised to visit on the next trip. And here we are. This family lost their home in the war and came to the programme at that stage. They are living in a former cow-shed now, donated by a neighbour, a challenging change in circumstance which they are handling admirably. They find the food programme great, although the food only lasts for 14 days of the month. When we enter the home, the mother is baking rounds of bread laid out across the full floor of one room. The children are sitting in the corner and eyes light up when some toys to play with descend. I reflect on the manger like scene as we give the children gifts. We give them cash assistance for their current needs and also food supplments for all the family.

Outside, other children gather in the hope of toys and to talk to us. Some play old fashioned games that cost little. As with all of the children we have met this morning, there are lots of smiles and they seem happy and content.

Away in a manger

We enter the dwelling and the youngest children are playing in the corner, close to their mother who is baking some bread for the family. Rounds of bread are spread across the floor. The family have managed to plumb water into this area and they have water for washing 8 hrs of the day.

Children play inside close to their mother who is baking

Rounds of bread protected with rags from swarming flies

Shed plumed for water

Family who lost their home in the war living in a former cow-shed

Children of Beit Lahyia

Little boy

Sisters enjoy old fashioned games

We leave the children playing and drive on through Beit Lahyia. Looking out the window, I notice a little girl peering out from behind a blanket fence. She is watching her grandfather, a fisherman, who is mending his nets on the other side of the road. We stop and give her a teddy bear and her family invite us up and say hello. Fishing nets hang outside the front window. I am delighted to meet one of the fishing families for their existence here is an appalling breach of human rights and I am keen to do more for this group. We give cash assistance and the head of the household explains how he mends his nets. Yet there is a sadness about this man, for he is at home and not close to the sea, yet from his chosen vantage point he has a distance view of his beloved ocean.

Peek-a-boo

Fisherman mending his nets

Maslama

Along the roadside, three children with a donkey and cart look on. They are unaccompanied and it seems as if the eldest is looking after his siblings.

Little donkey with precious load

We visit another family, who are part of the feeding programme. This is a relatively small family but they have great need. Two of their three children, Hosann and Hanna are at home. The elder sister is at school and Sabah explains that she is ill. The mother of the house gives us a copy of her medical letter, it is a congenital condition that has proved unresponsive to surgery. Outside the home, their father pulls up on his donkey and cart. He talks of the war, the closeness to the border, their sheer terror and his worry for the future of his family. As with everyone, the news of the start of the building of a steel wall along the Egyptian border last month has cast a further shadow on life here. Hosamm gives me a peace sign and I catch it on camera! He is only 4 yrs old yet he expresses his need for peace very clearly. He is also very protective of his little sister.

Outside family home in Northern Gaza

Peace

Hosam 4 yrs and Hanna 3 yrs

On now to my favourite part of Gaza, Jabalyia. This is the most densely populated part of Gaza and many children live here. It is called the city of the child and the donkey. Children manouvre donkeys and carts skillfully through the narrow streets.

Jablayia donkey

Many of the children here are from very poor families, they are wrapped up warm for the cold but go barefoot.

We visit a family of 13 people here who have been in the food programme for the beginning. Their father , Khalid, used to work in construction in Israel, but there is no work now for 5 yrs and with no social support here, he relies totally on humanitarian aid. He finds it demeaning not to be able to provide for his family, however he is very glad of the support in the meantime. He tries to get pieces of work here and there but there is little or no employment here. Again high aspirations here for his children, Nawal wants to be a doctor, Mohammed an engineer, Ahmed and Ezra, teachers. The other children are at school, All of the windows in the home and the roof were badly damaged in the war. He shows us the windows replaced with plastic. However, he gives thanks to God that unlike many, they still have their home. He hopes the food programme will continue.

Khalil and Halema with 5 of their 8 children

No glass for broken windows in this home one year on

Outside children gather and wave us off. We will return.

Children of Jabalyia

The next family also live in Jablayia. I met their mother on our last visit at the food distribution in Jablayia. There are six children in this family, Lena, Fathtma, Nasan, Jamal, Hamed and Masour. Lena wants to be a doctor and Jamal and engineer. The others have not decided yet, but they all enjoy school. It is great to hear the aspirations however there are no scholarships in Gaza and going to university is expensive. We speak of the current situation. Their father Abdul used to work in Israel in construction and like others we have met today there is no employment for him, so he relies totally on aid to for his family. Again, he tries to find some work where he can but with everyone in the same boat there is nothing. We speak of the war and the future. “Our future is very dark, we can see no hope, we think things will get worse hear and we worry for another war. The lack of freedom is constantly on our minds. We are just ordinary people and we deserve better than this”. As with all of the families, they are incredibly civilized and informed, they hold no malice, all they wish for is their freedom and justice and a future for their children.

Family in Jabalyia

Our next stop in Jabalyia is also with Fathma, a woman we met at the food distribution in July. She is here at home with her husband Mohammed and he is sick. He had a heart attack and is feeling very low. We sit with them for some time and she shows us the damage to her home. They talk of the war and their fear of another attack. They are also very afraid because of developments on the Egyptian border. She needs a new bed for her husband to make him more comfortable. We leave her cash assistance for her needs and also money for medicines. Mohammed is so very grateful for the help and he weeps. He gives thanks to God and we are smothered with kisses by Fathtma before leaving. It is incredibly humbling and I wish we could do more.

Fahtma and Mohammed from Jabalyia town

We say are good-byes, still being kissed. We have two more families to visit today. The first is a family of 9 including their grandmother also Fahtma. This family have been in the food programme from the beginning, but the food does not last as long as it did in last year, because prices have increased. This is one of the challenges of our project. It is harder to get the same value for money, nonetheless, people still need to have food. Their father Ahmed, worries about the future. “Are future is only darkness”, he says, “we see no light, the blockade continues and no one seems to be able to stop the way we are being treated. What will become of us? What future have my children?”. Ahmed also had a job and a regular income until 5 years ago, now he has nothing. It is the same story across father. Unemployed fathers, relying on whatever aid they can find to support their families. Some of Ahmed’s children are coming to the party tomorrow.

Ahmed and his family

The last visit of the day is also in Jabalyia with Osama and Hanna and their 6 children. With three red-heads in the family, half of them could be Irish. We joke with Osama that really he must have two wives, one Palestinian and one Irish and all the family laugh. Osama last worked in 2000, again like many others, he worked in construction in Israel before that and earned a good wage to support his family. There was no problem then, Palestinians worked well in Israel and had many friends there. He hopes this situation can return, where he can work peacefully among Israelis. The family have been part of the programme form the beginning. The children here again have high aspirations for their careers. Bedore wants to be a paediatrician, Ehab a dentist, Ahmed a teacher, Afnana an engineer and Mohammed would like to do business studies. I encourage them all in their studies and hope that their dreams come to fruition. The children of their family have a congential eye disorder and 4 of them wear glasses because of it. Opthalmic costs are an extra burden on this family and eye treatments do not come cheap in Gaza. We leave cash assistance for their needs and wish them well.

Osama, Hanna and their 6 children

We say goodbye to the half Irish looking family and make our way to mass in Gaza city, for today is the feast day of the Epiphany. During mass, I notice a little boy asleep against his father’s side and look as if they are in need to help. I meet the fabulous Sr Joan, a Missionary Sister of Charity based here in Gaza, and she asks for assistance for this family each month as they are in a bad way. We help him for this month and arrange to support him monthly going forward via Sr Joan.

Father and son

It is time now to go back to the hotel. As we drive we hear the news that an Egyptian security man has been killed at the Rafah border. Our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family. I hope this does not trigger another assault on Gaza.

I have an interview on BBC Evening News in Northern Ireland this evening. It is great to have the opportunity and tell the story of the plight of the people here, for we had no media interest in our last visit in July. Thank God.

Two hours later the the producer phones, to tell us the item is cancelled. The wife of a leading politician in Northern Ireland had an affair, and this will be the news item for this evening. Such things are clearly more important than the slow genocide that is Gaza. They offer to revisit the item tomorrow.

Back at base, news breaks that the Viva Palestina convoy has cleared Rafah. Let’s hope, on this occasion, that the aid it brings, will go to the people most in need.

If you are in a position to help any of the families we met during our time in Gaza, please contact us at info@tuesdayschild.co.uk or donate online here »

Continue to read Day 3 »