WAUK Newsletter: 22/02/2024

Dear Supporter,
 
We are pleased to send out our February 2024 Newsletter, keeping you updated on some of our latest projects in the West Bank and Gaza.

Emergency Interventions in Gaza

Since 7 October 2023, Palestinians in Gaza have been under continuous and heavy bombardment by Israeli Military forces. Water, fuel, and electricity have all been cut. Entry of all humanitarian aid has been severely restricted, with barely any trucks entering this month.  More than 1.7 million people are internally displaced, over 29,410 people have been killed and 69,465 injured (according UN OCHA Hostilities in the Gaza Strip and Israel – reported impact | Day 139).

With the shortage of food remaining in Gaza and limited entry of food into Gaza, the risk of famine is increasing. Many Palestinians in Gaza are reducing their daily food intake and regularly skipping meals in order to feed their children. With the lack of clean water and no power, the sewage system is not functioning, together with overcrowding in shelter centres this increases the risk of diarrhoea and related infections and the spread of infectious diseases. The most vulnerable include children, the elderly, the sick, those with chronic conditions (such as diabetes) and those injured. Health officials report cases of scabies, lice, skin rashes, chickenpox, and upper respiratory infections. The heads of the World Food Programme (WFP), UNICEF, and the World Health Organization (WHO) emphasize the urgent need for faster and safer aid access to prevent a deadly combination of hunger, malnutrition, and disease.^[1]

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_{[1] https://www.who.int/news/item/15-01-2024-preventing-famine-and-deadly-disease-outbreak-in-gaza-requires-faster–safer-aid-access-and-more-supply-routes}

In response to this crisis, WA has been implementing a range of emergency interventions since 7 October to help those injured and families in Gaza survive. WA has provided fuel medications and medical equipment for hospitals and ambulances, and provided thousands of food parcels, hygiene kits, and bottled water to displaced families. Lately, WA has been able to get 6 trucks packed with essential medical supplies into Gaza. As the humanitarian crisis in Gaza has worsened, WA has focussed on ensuring thousands of sheltering families do not starve, by continuing to provide fresh food parcels and drinking water.

To date, WA has provided 22,994 families in Gaza with fresh food parcels

Our latest intervention will provide a further 3,500 internally displaced families in Gaza with food parcels. The project will provide a lifeline and address the urgent food needs of homeless families who have taken refuge in non-U.N. shelters in Gaza.

Help us to continue our emergency interventions in Gaza as the crisis continues. Please donate today so we can reach out to more homeless and starving families in Gaza.

Click here to Donate to our Gaza Emergency Appeal

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Supporting the Livelihoods of Olive farmers in the West Bank

This project is providing support to farmers with small landholdings in the West Bank, helping them to replant damaged and destroyed olive groves and sustain their livelihoods. The second phase of the project was successfully completed earlier this month. The programme bolstered the resilience of marginalised farmers, increasing their income and restoring their lands’ productivity. Project implementation was more difficult since Oct 7^th, with greater restrictions on movement and increased numbers of roadblocks and checkpoints. However, the works spanned across 13 Palestinian towns and villages in Nablus, Ramallah, Tulkarm, Jenin, and Hebron.

Overall, 316 farming families have directly benefited from the planting of approximately 12,000 olive trees across more than 1,000 acres of land in threatened areas.

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Noor Al-Salam School Renovations

Noor Al-Salam kindergarten was established in 2013, with 120 students aged three to five years old, located in Al-Tur (Mount of Olives) Jerusalem, East of the Old City. The kindergarten is not supported by the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Education or by the Israeli Government / local municipality. Noor Al-Salam provides children with early years educational opportunities as well as a safe space for recreation and play.

Welfare Association undertook critical renovation work to safeguard children attending this Kindergarten. Over time the retaining wall separating the playground from the adjacent local cemetery had deteriorated, marked by large cracks. This posed a significant safety risk to children and staff, particularly as the cemetery sits at a much higher level above the playground. Immediate renovation works were undertaken to reinforce and restore the wall, to prevent further deterioration and prevent collapse.

The works included:

• Removing plants and trees that posed a threat to the integrity of the wall.
• The clearance and removal of loose silt, approximately 2 meters wide and deep, from behind the length of the wall, and refilling.
• The deteriorated wall was then replaced with a new, reinforced concrete wall.
• The new wall was plastered and insulated, to protect it from moisture absorption.
• Finally it was painted decoratively to match the rest of the kindergarten.

The newly reinforced wall restored a safe learning and play environment to Noor Al-Salam while also preserving the neighbouring cemetery. The children were very happy to return to their safe and redecorated playground.

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Watch Welfare Association’s latest video

Click the link below to watch our latest video titled: Gaza the Day After: Challenges and Undertakings, a discussion with guest speaker Dr. Ghassan Abu Sittah moderated by Abir Bawarshi.

Dr. Ghassan Abu Sittah

Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah is a British-Palestinian Associate Professor of Surgery and a Plastic & Reconstructive Surgeon. He completed his medical education at University of Glasgow in the U.K and his postgraduate residency training in London. He later underwent 3 fellowships: Paediatric Craniofacial Surgery at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Kids (GOS); Cleft Surgery at GOS and a further fellowship in Trauma Reconstruction at the Royal London Hospital. In 2011 he was recruited by the American University of Beirut Medical Centre. In 2012 he became Head of the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the AUBMC, Clinical Lead of its Paediatric War injuries program and War Injuries Multidisciplinary Clinic.

In 2015 co-founded and became director of the Conflict Medicine Program at Global Health Institute at the American University of Beirut. He returned to the UK in 2020 and continues in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery in the private sector.

He is an Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer at the Centre for Blast Injury Studies at Imperial College University of London and Visiting Senior Lecturer at the Conflict & Health Research Group at Kings College London University. He is Clinical Lead for the Operational Trauma Initiative at the World Health Organization’s EMRO Office and serves on the board of directors of INARA, a charity dedicated to providing reconstructive surgery to war injured children in the Middle East, and Board of Trustees of the UK based Medical Aid for Palestinians. He serves on the UK’s National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) International Funding Committee.

He has published extensively on the health consequences of prolonged conflict and on war injuries including a medical text book, “Reconstructing the War Injured Patient” and “Treating the War Injured Child.” He has worked as a war surgeon in Yemen, Iraq, Syria, South Lebanon and during the 4 wars in the Gaza Strip. He has worked in the Gaza Strip during this current war. His work was featured by numerous newspapers and media outlets notably La Monde, The Independent, Telegraph, BBC, and CNN.

Abir Bawarshi Oweini     

A self-made business owner and leader who is privileged to carve her own career pathway that is defined by her values, passion, and care for humanity. A board member, sponsor, and fund raiser at two major Palestinian NGO’s including Inaash and Taawon; Inaash, a 55-year-old organization that works on preserving Palestinian heritage through embroidery and employing refugee women in Palestinian camps around Lebanon in an attempt to empower them. Taawon, a 40-year-old association that has become over the years the largest organization operating in Palestine and the Diaspora camps in Lebanon, with programs covering education, health, community development, culture, the revitalization of the Old City of Jerusalem and most recently the Palestinian Museum. A research enthusiast who has completed her master’s in Political Science and Public Policy. A PhD Candidate in History with emphasis on Palestinian Identity in Children’s Literature. Passionate about teaching Political Science, History and Social Sciences where she can add value to coursework by bringing her life experience into the classroom.