Looking for Trouble

Heroes are everywhere in Gaza, by Gerri Haynes

There are heroes working here in incredibly difficult conditions to make life safer and more fulfilling for Gazans – despite the critical challenges of life under siege.

Issa Nahal directs a women’s empowerment center – aiding women in Rafah to gain work skills and to cope with life in this economically depressed area. SOS Children’s Village provides family-style homes for orphaned and homeless children. This inspiring facility is one of 518 villages across the world – established to aid the children of war.

Also in Rafah, Wefaq organization assists women and children affected by war. We visited a computer skills training program – one designed to help prepare women for work in technology. When we asked what the women would like us to tell the people of America, their response was similar to that of almost every Gazan: “Remove the siege and let us be free.” There is a deeply resilient spirit in this land – a spirit that wants to fully participate in the world.

In central Gaza, Reem Abu Jaber, a most remarkable woman, has established a cultural center for children. In the midst of constant war threat, Reem opts to help strengthen the spirit of children by engaging them in the most loving and beautiful parts of their culture. She refuses to concentrate on war – she insists on concentrating on what will help children maintain hope and health.

At NAWA Cultural Center, art, music, and storytelling are combined with the pride of service projects in the community. The children and staff also joyfully maintain the immaculately clean Center. Over the last three years, enrollment in NAWA has grown to include hundreds of local children – children who are imbued with the beauty of Gaza’s history and with the joy of being a Palestinian.

Reem’s next project is to be completed this year – the refurbishing of a 1700-year old monastery into a children’s library. She says there is always another project on the horizon to help the children of her homeland.

This afternoon, journalist Mohammed Omer took some members of our group to the tunnel area of Rafah on the border with Egypt. For years, hundreds of tunnels provided access to goods for the people of Gaza. Food, fuel, cars, camels, medicines, etc. came through the tunnels and were an important part of the economy. Over the last two

years, Egypt has destroyed most of the tunnels and recently, Egypt has flooded the remaining tunnels with salt water, adding to the salinization of the aquifer and creating cracks that are leading to the development of sink holes along the populated southern edge of Rafah. Military action along this southern border is now common and threatening to the residents of this area.

So we learn about life under siege and we do the work we came to do: teaching, consulting, operating. Grant O’Keefe, trauma surgeon, is occupied throughout the day at Shifa Hospital. This evening, he spoke at a surgical conference – a talk I missed but hope to hear at a later time – perhaps on the bus back to Jerusalem!

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