Looking for Trouble

March 25 in Gaza: Heroes in a hugely difficult place, by Gerri Haynes

(Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility has traveled to Gaza since 1993. Since 2009, following the Cast Lead invasion by Israel, WPSR has sponsored nine medical delegations to serve the people of Gaza.)

Today, I want to tell you about the incredible work being done in Gaza. I’d like to tell you that reconstruction is continuing at a rapid pace. That I cannot tell you – but I can tell you that the people we are meeting are heroes in a hugely difficult place!

Medical care in Gaza is good but the siege imprisons patients and practitioners alike. Continuing education is hampered by the lack of freedom of movement across borders to other countries and the lack of access to adequate equipment and supplies causes patient care to suffer. Still, the medical personnel of Gaza provide conscientious and loving care.

For our visit, patients are referred each day for consultation at Marna House. A child needing care not available in Gaza cannot afford the care that transport to another country would cost – even if she could gain permission to leave. The stories wrench the heart and inflame the conscience. Why is this happening? The collective punishment of 1.8+ million people is impossible to understand.

This morning, the medicines purchased with funds donated by

many in Washington were delivered to the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme. “Our patients need these medicines and we run out of them”, we are told.

Delayed permission to enter Gaza meant that the order for medicines had to be delayed and the supply of requested medicines could not be fully filled. Still, the partially replenished stock was happily received!

While teaching and consulting and operating continued through the day, lessons about the work of Gaza’s NGOs were offered!

Several of us visited a center for the care of partially sighted and blind children. We met children

who held tenderly to one another as they sang – finding their way around the song circle by touch.

Children in the Center learn to type in Braille and their Braille printer allows them to create books for use by all of the children. Dr. Al Kashif, formerly of the Ministry of Health and a long-time friend, toured us through this center that he helped to create!

Another visit to Mira Kindergarten rewarded us with dancing, singing and joyful clapping with the children and staff. A sign thanking WPSR for helping the kindergarten adorned the wall.

We toured the building and met children one-by-one – and we learned that many of them lost siblings and one or both parents in last summer’s war on Gaza. Loss in so many families seems present everywhere.

We visited the Al Amal orphanage. The facility has expanded to serve 150 children (age 5 – 18) on site and another 150 children in the community. With 20,000 orphans in Gaza (most related to wars), the work of the orphanage is always needed.

In the coming year, the staff hopes to expand services to include children from birth to 5 years – recognizing the agonizing need for care that this population is experiencing.

With the electricity situation in Gaza always threatened (electricity is sometimes available only in three-hour segments), the orphanage staff is hoping to install solar panels on their buildings. They estimate to cost of this expressions at $100,000. Donors are needed!

While some of our group traveled north to the ruined towns of Beit Hanoun and Shujayia to watch young men perform Parkour on the rubble that remains of these two towns, others were able to visit with friends made in previous visits.

Firsthand stories of life in a city under constant threat of attack are sobering. Knowing that any small modicum of safety can disappear instantly is something most of us can barely understand. Still, the humor and steadfast decision to remain in Gaza – to remain “home” fills many interactions.

The people of Gaza comprise an inspiring and amazing community!