Tuesday’s Child Blog

Tuesday’s Child Returns to Gaza – Day 11

Thursday 16th July 2009

This morning I am back with UNRWA again to visit one of their health centres, call into the summer games and to meet with John Ging. It is very generous of UNRWA to give me so much of their time. The car arrives at 8.45 a.m and I am visiting the projects today with Johanne and Salma. As we drive, I ask Johanne, in the back seat beside me, about her work and she explains that she has worked in the UNRWA Gaza field office for 5 yrs. Unlike many of her colleagues she was not evacuated during Operation Cast Lead but remained in Gaza. “The most terrifying thing was the lack of safety. No one was safe in Gaza, not even UN staff. The bombardment was constant and the noise, the pounding and bombing was endless. The sound was deafening, we had these constant ear splitting sonic booms of the F16s, my hearing still hasn’t recovered. I wonder about the long-term damage to infant’s and children’s hearing here, well everyone’s”. I can identify with the hearing problems given that I have full right-sided post-traumatic hearing loss just from the noise of an road traffic accident impact in Cork, 7 yrs ago, when passenger in a car there. Having an F16 drop a bomb on your house must be in a completely different league. It would be interesting to know how many people here have auditory damage from the war. Salma, sitting upfront, is from Gaza, Jabalyia. I tell her, for me, Jabalyia is the most vibrant and colourful part of Gaza. Also, there are so many children in Jablayia and donkeys! Salam is expecting her second child. She was also here during the war, her home was damaged but thankfully all of her family are safe.

I ask about UNRWA and how they felt about UNRWA buildings being targeted. “Again, the most striking thing, was the lack of safety, for all of us. There was no place safe and there was no regard for the UN. Some of our aid workers was tragically killed and other employees were injured. It was a very dangerous time. We recommended our schools to the population as safe havens to come to and these came under attack even, it was shocking”, Johanne explains. I recall that afternoon of the 6^th January vividly, the feast of the Epiphany, a cold crisp dark afternoon in Belfast, when a UNRWA school was hit in Gaza and many children among the dead and injured. I heard it on the evening news at 5.30 p.m when driving across the city to our candlelit vigil to pray for an end to the war. I was due to give a live TV interview to BBC N.Ireland shortly afterwards and was shocked from the radio bulletin and crying from the news. I remember the interviewer telling me, I’d better pull myself together as I was live in 10 minutes. I composed myself, gave the interview and it was she who was then in tears at the end of the TV broadcast. It also struck me that the need for prayer that night was also more poignant now. Many came out that cold night in Belfast to walk with is in prayer, candlelight and song to the Infant Child, for an end to the war in Gaza. A local man also died also that night on our walk, a very good man, a Belfast solicitor and veteran for peace in N.Ireland. The following day, my little friend Dima, was badly injured. On the 6^th she would’ve been unhurt and playing with her brothers and sisters under the watchful care of her parents. She died on 3^rd March, the 313^th and last child to die from Operation Cast Lead. My prayer, then, that no more children would be murdered in Gaza and that Dima’s death would be the end of the slaughter of innocents. I also think of the El Samouni family, while the UNRWA school was being bombed, many of them were already dead, others lying bleeding to death, with the Red Cross unable to access them. I shiver at the thought of it.

We talk of our common interest in humanitarian relief work and Johanne tells me how much she enjoys working for UNRWA. “I was here before John Ging”, she explains, “his arrival made a huge difference. He is a strategist with great vision and services here have improved considerably under his management. He has great leadership and we all find him great to work for”.

“The job is wonderful, I love what I do, however, you never really get away from Gaza” Johanne says. “I was away for a week-end in Europe and people at the next table to us were eating strawberries. They were saying how hard it is to get nice strawberries at this time of year. And all I could think of was the Gazan strawberries and the blockade, you know, hello end the siege guys and you can have lots more strawberries! And then, when I am really really outraged, I curse in Bosnian. I did a lot of that here in January!” I warm to Johanne, she has a strong sense of justice, is very passionate about her work here and is clearly a woman of tenacity.

We arrive at our first stop, Rimal Health Centre, which provides primary healthcare to some 150,000 refugees. We are welcomed by the medical director Dr Mordi, a very informed and clearly hard working man, who co-ordinates this busy centre. Some estimated 2000 people per day attend the centre for treatment. The clinic employs 10 general physicians, as well as specialists. Dr Mordi gives us a whistle stop tour and we meet some of the staff and patients. 10 GPs for 150,000 people, that is quite a remit. I think back to a busy GP practice I worked in at home, with 5 GPs for 8000 patients. Quite a difference here and I wonder how long the appointment time must be?!

Dr Mordi, in the mother and baby clinic

The main problems currently in children are acute infections such as gastroenteritis and chest infections. The main chronic problem in children is anaemia and malnutrition. Food supplements are given but these only work when there is enough food to supplement. I am introduced to a retired obstetrician, now returned by demand. His case load averages at 35-40 women per day. He describes and incidence of anaemia in pregnancy of 70 percent, even with iron supplementaton. The main cause is iron deficiency, also to a much lesser degree vitamin B12 deficiency and thalassaemia. Anaemia is a huge risk to pregnancy and I am surprised that event with supplementation, the incidence is still so high. Rimal Health Centre works hard to follow children and here all the children have growth charts, pink for girls and blue for boys. I smile as I think back to a similar system I introduced in St George’s Hospital in London for premature babies and how my mentor, Ian, teased me over my baby blue and baby pink system and for being such a “girlie”. They still use the blue and pink though! In this case I note the little boy’s growth is going well.

Percentile growth charts in Rimal Health Centre

Cardiology clinic

One of the rooms we go into is the cardiology clinic where a patient is just about to have an ECHO examination. I ask the cardiologist about incident of cardiac morbidities during and since the war. He advises that heart complaints have increased by 25 percent post war and that cardiac deaths increased considerably during and immediately post war.

Our tour also takes us to the dental department and then to the physiotherapy department before having to leave. The physio department here must have dealt with a lot of war injuries!

Physiotherapy clinic

I am very impressed with the UNRWA health clinic. It really is a one stop shop for primary health care and the visit here is very uplifiting after seeing so many cases in their own homes in lack of basic health care needs. I would like to know more about outreach services into the community but we are out of time and must move on to our next scheduled visit.

Our next stop is UNRWA’s Summer Games. The initiative was first launched in June 2007 after a particularly violent episode in the strip. The summer games provide an all important outlet for children and young people of Gaza who have seen so much death and destruction and have to live with daily poverty and despair. The summer games are co-ordinated at 15 beach locations throughout Gaza. Beach activities include ball games, bouncy castles, swimming lessons, arts and crafts. Other activities include athletics, drama, dancing and kite-flying.

We arrive at 10.15 and the heat is blistering. Today there is a festival for all the children involved in summer games and there is great excitement. It is wonderful to see so many children singing and enjoying themselves. The co-ordinator here points out to one little girl in the crowd her lost her leg in an F16 bomb; she seems to be enjoying herself with her friends. Parents welcome the summer games as it gives children and young people here a chance to enjoy themselves and express themselves after all they have been through. They also restore confidence and ofcourse recreation is an essential pre-requisite to more effective learning.

One of the events of this morning’s festival, is some local dancing and we are invited up to participate. Again, a bit like Irish dancing, albeit a little slower and on the beach.

Johanne, Salma and Bahra, from UNRWA at the summer games festival

Children do supervised tumbles down a bouncy slide

Children sing a long and clap to the music at the summer games festival

Little boy with his mother comes along to the summer games festival

Traditional dancing on the beach

Lots of support for the dancers from the audience

The Summer Games, for me, is one of UNRWA’s greatest achievements. Not all however in Gaza, see it like this. The programme has come under considerable opposition, wrongly accused of corrupting the morals of the Palestinian people and “acting to defile a conservative clean society”, as stated in a recent publication. How can a society move forward in hope for the future hold such a view? Such a perception is narrow and grossly misplaced for recreation, play and leisure is an internationally recognised human right of every child. What is also clear is that every child I have met here this morning is thoroughly enjoying themselves, and surely, the very least they are entitled to, given what they have just come through, indeed what they have lived with all of their young lives. Participation in Summer Games should be a decision for each individual child to make, not those who would seek to thwart letting children be children and do what children do best – have fun. Also, why is it western influences are always lambasted; play and leisure feature in daily life of children in the East.

Time to say good-bye to the Summer Games festival and on to UNRWA headquarters to meet with the UNRWA Director John Ging.

John welcomes me to UNRWA and thanks me for making it back to Gaza for my second visit this year. He says he appreciates it is not the easiest of trips. I don’t mind the trip over it is the bit on the way out I don’t care for, or as in the February attempt, not getting in at all! I thank him and tell him I am glad to be back again. It is good to meet John, I hold him in high regard, as do my colleagues in Tuesday’s Child, for he is a true champion of the human rights of people living in the Middle East. I met John once before 4 months ago, albeit briefly, after he gave an inspiring address in the Law Faculty at Queen’s University, Belfast, arranged by Trocaire.

With UNRWA Director, John Ging

I thank him for the itinerary kindly arranged and congratulate him on the work of UNRWA. He graciously and generously attributes UNRWA’s success to his team, such is the humble nature of the man. I suggest that he should run for President of Gaza, as so many people I have met on this trip speak so highly of him. “Not all the people”, he assures me, “I can refer you to 2 Hamas editorials recently that suggest otherwise”. He cites the price tag of his own personal security here in the strip; I would settle for 10 percent of it for Tuesday’s Child’s projects here. I could build a water park with that percentage. I would love to build a water park in Gaza! My dreams apart, this innovative UNRWA Director treads a risky path and I am aware he has already survived one assassination attempt in 2007.

John Ging, UNRWA Director with one of his key staff, Johanne Van Dyke

John commends me on Tuesday’s Child’s commitment to Gaza, our efforts at home and the work we do here. I thank him for the compliment, also generous, for we are only a small NGO, child-like in comparison to UNRWA, albeit with a big heart. “Your being here brings humanity and hope, that is important, just being here and meeting and listening to the people is greatly appreciated. It is a witness to the truth of their situation and that the outside world care”. I thank him again, saying that the first visit was all it took and that “one only has to meet these people once to carry them in your heart”.

“More people should come to Gaza and see the situation here. There is nothing to fear here now”, he says. I agree there is no fear yet it is difficult to convince others of that, something of which he is all too clearly also aware. I say that, for me, “the only fear is the inability of the Gaza people to recover from the human suffering and sheer trauma of the recent war and the humanitarian crisis imposed by the ongoing blockade”. They were suffering enough as it was before this latest onslaught. I also note the change in the human environment since my first visit 11 months ago, the people are clearly more divided and the undercurrent of extremism is more marked, also that many others are sickened and no longer care for politics. There is also less hope. “More extremism is unfortunately inevitable after Operation Cast Lead, however the good news is that the majority of the people are still resisting it”, he says.

I congratulate him on the coup of former President Jimmy Carter’s recent visit and he smiles, offering that Jimmy Carter is a humanitarian and an expert in the business of human development. Clearly, a meeting of like minds, Ging and Carter. “The US Ministers have got it, they are happy to come and see the truth of the situation here, they have bought the ticket. It is harder however getting European countries to take an active interest. Some have made statements but they are slow to cut to the chase and follow through with actions”, he says.

I share my thoughts on the suffering and the cruelty I have witnessed these last 10 days in Gaza and most of all the persecution of the children. I refer to some of the children I met earlier this week in the hospitals and all that they are going through. Also, the little boy with congenital myasthenia gravis and the little baby girl with intractable epilepsy, both needing urgent transfer for treatment, refused by Israeli authorities. Big brave men, robbing sick children of their right to access to life-saving treatment. For me, this is perhaps the most despicable of breaches, here. What harm can a four month old baby girl in intensive care possibly do to the state of Israel? I also share my observations on the state of the hospitals, the clear lack of funding, their dilapidated condition and how difficult it must be to practice in these conditions.

Yet the children here are full of hope. The majority of children I have met, be it in their own homes, in the summer learning programme or just on the streets, have hope. While many have no school buildings to return to in September, when it comes to their futures, their career aspirations are high. They speak of careers as doctors, journalists, engineers, social workers, lawyers and human rights lawyers even, in part, reflective of the recent trauma here. John tells, me of one little boy, to whom he asked the same question, who told him he wanted to be a fighter pilot when he grew up! I also share my findings of asking children here to give me three things they are brilliant at. All, of us, whichever children we come in to contact with, be they are own children, nieces and nephews, children of friends or children we mentor or teach, should ask this same question. And of course, it should not all be about academics but a more rounded approach to abilities. Some children offer here that they are brilliant at Summer Games.

I ask him if things would perhaps be better for Gaza, if an Irish American president was in the White House. “We couldn’t hope for better than Obama”, John says,” if anyone can bring about a solution to the political and humanitarian crises here, Obama and his administration can. He has also nailed the current crux of the conflict – the expansion of the settlements in the West Bank”. While, he may have identified this, I do not concur. My own private view is that while Obama is certainly a considerable improvement on the former president and war monger, George Bush, I have little confidence in his ability to bring peace to the Middle East or indeed to bring an end to the death of innocents, particularly, given his stance on abortion. Indeed, pushing through his policies on this will lead to a slaughter infinitely greater than that witnessed in Gaza. Tuesday’s Child also stands for the rights of the unborn child. I could never vote or promote any politician who does not uphold this most basic and fundamental right to life and give voice to those who are truly voiceless in this world. However, I am here to discuss the humanitarian plight of the people of Gaza and how it may be resolved not Tuesday’s Child’s position on abortion and so I keep these thoughts to myself.

“The borders need to open – it is the only solution”, continues John Ging. “Once people can resume more normal lives, have freedom to travel, go to work every day, they will forget about all of the intensity of division here. Unless the borders open, however, Gaza will continue in a downward spiral”. I ask about the tunnels and he says they do nothing to enhance the likelihood of an end to the siege and that a select few are “making millions” from the tunnels in black market trade. Also, that the tunnels are the excuse being given for not permitting much needed building materials into the strip, which of course is ridiculous. “The blockade traps decent civilised people here, it is a collective punishment of 1.5 million people. The collective sanction of so many civilians and the appalling human suffering as a result is a breach of International Humanitarian Law”.

I ask him, an end to the siege apart, what, in his view, it will take to end the suffering in Gaza. “Truth, justice and accountability”, he answers. “We cannot have a civilised society with truth and justice and the mechanisms to hold people account for their actions. The rule of the law is needed. It is either the rule of the law or the rule of the gun. The rule of the Law must prevail. People like me make laws. The law defines us as either civilised or non-civilised human beings. Also, policies are needed based on truth and people need to be restored to a dignified existence in which they can feel safe”.

It is clear John Ging is a great advocate of the law and upholds good practice. We could do with him at home, for in my book, the Irish legal system, is corrupt, full of too many sewer rats feeding of the injustice and human misery of others, so called professional people who have lost all sight of the pillars of truth and justice. Yes, the Law society in Ireland, could do with more practitioners like John Ging.

We discuss the issue of Shilat. “While unfortunate”, he states, “he is just one prisoner. There are 11,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons in the West Bank. Look at the situation in Ramallah, children are being arrested and imprisoned for throwing stones at soldiers. They should be throwing flowers back at them, they are children” he says, clearly incensed by the injustice of it. “You should make time and visit Ramallah and see what is happening there before you return home”.

We discuss the dangers of imprisoning children and teenagers and I share my own experience of Northern Ireland where teenagers were lifted on the streets and arrested without charge. Internment turned too many into future terrorists. In a flash, I think back to my own childhood and life in Belfast, where many older children were lifted for the same thing, beaten and some interned. And later, children would die from the so-called plastic bullets. There but for the grace of God go I.

It was not just the occupying and local forces who hounded catholic children in Northern Ireland, but our own people, who crossed the line, even in our schools. That was the greatest tragedy, that elders in our own community facilitated the transition, indeed actively encouraged, young people to move from the rule of the law to the rule of the gun. Irish classes in grammar schools for the catholic elite became hotbeds of paramilitary enrolment. As for incursions and massacres, Bloody Sunday was the greatest source of recruitment for young men and women into the IRA. The tragedy here in Gaza, is that undoubtedly, Operation Cast Lead will have served similar purposes for Hamas. And given, the current climate in Gaza, I cannot envisage Hamas encouraging its young people to opt for the rule of law. Perhaps I am mistaken, maybe I should give them more credit than that, but I doubt they have the vision that is needed to keep their young people safe.

For a moment I am lost in thought and realising it, quickly return. I suggest the possibility of a specialist think tank to find a solution to the humanitarian crisis and the blockade - the cream of human rights commissioners and experts in human development around one table. He smiles, telling me it is already in hand and scheduled for the end of August. I get the feeling that John Ging is always at least one step ahead of every suggested possibility for bringing a solution. “Mary Robinson will be joining us” he says. I tell him I have great respect for her, that I met her briefly in Belfast last October and asked her why the UN Declaration of Human Rights was continuing to fail the people of Gaza. “That is a reasonable question , one we should all be asking and seeking an answer to”, he offers.

I give John a copy of our Tuesday’s Child double music album and also a copy of the live recording of our two music gigs for Gaza in Dublin’s Vicar St earlier this year...plenty of good Irish music, just in case he is feeling homesick! Or if he is ever feeling a tad jaded, The Waterboys’ Bring Them All In or The Whole of The Moon will soon see him right! However, for Gaza, we need a “Let Them All Out” and I make a note to write to Mike Scott and ask if he will consider penning a reverse version! Time to end the meeting, my hour is up and, while not being one for photos, kindly obliges me with a few pictures. I am tempted to ask, if he knows where I could find a bottle of cold Carlsberg!

John Ging is a man of integrity, he exudes truth and justice. He is honest and he calls a spade a spade. Intellectually, he is brilliant, a strategist with vision, the work ethic to support it and the humour and wit, to keep him sane. He is clearly committed to his work for the people of Gaza and has taken them, well the majority of them, to his heart. Most of all, he has the courage to speak out. If I could mark one defining characteristic, however, it is his sheer tenacity, for it is clear that he has the determination, persistence and optimism, in the face of adversity and opposition, to get the job done and achieve his goal. Yes, I have every confidence in John Ging and his ability to make it happen. If anyone can facilitate bringing truth, justice and freedom to the people of Gaza, he can.

I thank him for his time, wish him continued success and good luck in his efforts and leave him to the job at hand. God speed!

UNRWA Director John Ging at his desk

I join his team for lunch and top up on some UNRWA bottled water before being driven back to my hotel.

Johanne talks about the forthcoming kite flying day at the end of the month when UNRWA are hoping the Gazan children will enter the Guinness book of records for their kite flying competition. Good stuff. A sight to behold I am sure and I am sorry I will miss it. I recall a statistic from 2008, when a group of young boys were assassinated by occupying forces while flying their kites on the beach.

As I am driven back through the streets of Gaza city in the UN geep, I follow the scenes of poverty and hardship, never-ending piles of rubble and twisted metal, children playing wherever they can, and one life story flashing into the next, every doorway a window on injustice. I think back to my own childhood and living with occupying forces and corrupt local law enforcement forces in Northern Ireland and the daily intimidation that came with the territory. We were very lucky, we had a comfortable standard of living for many years and even when times were lean still never wanted for anything, yet, as with all children in those times, we had to learn to live with the troubles. They were woven into our daily life. Ours was a strongly nationalist, but never republican family, and that regardless, the rule of Obedience was first and foremost in our home, you did what you were told and you only had to be told once. The occupation of Gaza, is on a different level of terror, there is no escaping it. These are truly a terrorised people and they still have no guarantee of safety or that a further massacre will not follow.

Unsafe building, Gaza city

Life in Northern Ireland has thankfully moved on, the rule of the gun has been replaced with the rule of law, but the undercurrent of extremism is still there. For me, it was never more apparent than when organising our prayer vigil for an end to the conflict in Gaza earlier this year. For what many don’t appreciate around the world, is that Operation Cast Lead polarised both communities in Northern Ireland and people, once again, pinned their colours to the post. Nonetheless, there is a political forum now, and the majority are agreed that the only way forward is through nonviolent means. My hope is that if it possible in Northern Ireland, it is also possible here in Gaza.

Gaza has that affect on you, it takes you back to the times of your childhood, either to happy times that every child is entitled to or to times when your safety was threatened by war. We, as children of the troubles, had our skirmishes and issues, but overall we still had happy childhoods. We had to live with daily injustices but we were still free, we could go on holiday to other parts of Ireland, to Donegal or Dublin or Galway, the regular holiday and long week-end spots in our house. The children here have nowhere to go. This polluted stretch of coastline is their only escape in this tiny stretch of occupied and increasingly embargoed strip of land where many are now forced to live in makeshift homes in the rubble.

I think of the similarities and differences between myself and John Ging, both Irish, one a child of the North and the other a child of the free South, exposed to hugely different experiences, yet both sharing a profound sense of humanity. What is clear, is that wherever we are born and whichever path any of us take in life, ultimately there is only one path we should choose, the path of truth and justice. What is also clear is that we were each blessed. No child should be exposed to the horrors of Gaza and the collective punishment here. Only time will tell how the trauma of their experience of hunger, poverty, death and despair, will affect their psyche and shape their future for this blockade and the ongoing occupation has surely robbed them of their childhood. May the UNRWA summer games and kite flying competitions long continue!

I return to the hotel and catch up with my emails and fundraising efforts at home. Some time also to write my blog and rehydrate with the supply of safe drinking water from UNRWA.

Sabah picks me up at 5 p.m. and we drive south through Deil El Balah to meet a group of families living in a area close to the border. Again, driving through Deil El Balah, more evidence of destruction on either side. We pass the police station that was flattened in the early days of the war and where policemen lay dismembered in the courtyard.

Shattered homes in Deil El Balah

Flattened site of former police station in Deil El Balah

We stop to pick up two school teachers from one of the schools in this area we brought supplies into last year. It is great to see them again, safe and well. I recognise the area as we approach, we had a sweet street party here! We drive out past Deil El Balah to a more rural area to meet some families. These are not in our feeding programme but we are here to assess their needs and give them cash assistance.

Our first call this evening is with the Siad family of 9 people. The children here, like many I have met, show show skin pigmentation changes. I ask Mr Siad about the war and where he stayed. “We are used to occupation and living so close to the border, soldiers coming into our home. We decided to stay in our house as this is where we feel most safe. The house as not occupied thankfully but we had no food or water for many days. Eventually, I went out and managed a little food and water from our neighbours. The bombing was endless, we were convinced that many of our neighbours must surely be killed”. I ask the children what they like doing, football is a big favourite and we give them a new ball. I recognise the UNRWA summer games t-shirt on one of the boys and asks if he enjoys it. "The summer games are the best thing we have in Gaza", he says. I ask the children who are here what they want to do when the grown up. In this home, we have a doctor, an engineer and a footballer.

We give Mrs Siad, money towards food for her family

Our next family, also Siad’s are not at home, except for the father of the house, he has six children, all girls and tells us he is enjoying the peace and quiet of the evening.

Siad Said, home alone

He is very grateful for the money and we drive on to our next stop, some distance. We are very close to the border here and I am told not to take any photos. I just manage one quick shot of the border through the trees. Our driver Ahmed doesn’t feel safe in this area and would prefer to get out of here as quickly as possible. He feels the large service taxi driving down this dirt track is much too obvious. There are children all along as we drive along and we stop to give them bags of sweets. Our visit here is to the family in Gaza living closest to the Israel border, within 300 meters. It certainly wouldn’t be a spot I would choose to live!

View of the border through the trees

The family here are the Mobark family, the husband and some of the older boys are not at home, but Mrs Mobark is here with the younger children and her brother whom she also looks after. She invites me into the house and shows me around, it is very poor and there is no light inside. The kitchen shows no sign of food apart from some yams and tomatoes. There is great excitement here and as we give out toys and sweets to the children and sweets to Mrs Mobark’s brother. She shows me the damage to the roof of her home sustained in the 23 day war and the many bullet holes in the wall of the house. I ask the children if they like school, they don’t and often they don’t bother going at all as it is too far to walk each day especially when they are hungry and have little to eat. I ask how far the school is and am told about 8 miles. I ask if none of the local neighbours here have transport, even a donkey and cart to take the children in and out to school and I am told no. We give Mrs Mobark money for food and make arrangements to buy a donkey and cart for the family on the understanding that someone will take the children into school. We give the older children a premier football and they are much more excited about this than the prospect of school transport.

Mrs Mobark and 5 of her 7 children

Mrs Mobark’s brother Mohammed

On now to the Hatam Siad family, whose father is disabled and little girl is also disabled. Theirs is a much nicer home with a bathroom, the first I have seen in any of these houses and I notice a plaque on the wall, saying, built by The Welfare Foundation. I met some officers of the Welfare Foundation in London at a Palestinian platform there in May and they were clearly very committed to the work they do here. It is nice to see some of it in action. The baby girl here has a congential malformation of the head which looks like hydrocpehalus but I am not sure. We leave some money for cash assistance. Outside this house, many children from neighbouring houses gather and we distribute toys and sweets. The bubbles are a big hit here.

Children queue up for toys and sweets

We drive on to visit the Abu Jalal home in the same rural area. Many policemen live in this area and Sabah explains that generally this area is overlooked when it comes to aid. Only one of the family is at home, a 17 yr old girl and she is a little intimidated by the large group arriving. Sabah and I go in and talk with her. She and her sister go to university. She shows us round the family home, there is no furniture, not even one chair and in the kitchen there is nothing to eat. I ask her what she has eaten today and she says nothing. I ask her what she is doing and she points to a mattress on the floor, some loose leafs of paper and a biro. "I am studying", she says.

There are no furnishings in the home, just bare stone walls and I notice no clothes. Nothing, the house is a shell. I ask Sabah about the clothes and she gently enquires. She tells us she only owns the dress that she is wearing, the same with her sister, who also goes to college and they alternate the two outfits between them. Of all of the houses here, this is the most in need. How can she possibly study, if she hasn’t eaten today? I don’t take a photo here as, with everyone we ask first and her preference is no. I gave her money for the family for food and also money for herself and her sister for some clothes and supplies for college. She is overwhelmed and dissolves into tears. " Thank you, thank you, thank you", the young girl says, squeezing my hand, and she also gives thanks also to God. I tell her she is most welcome and we will continue to help her. I walk away in tears. This situation is too much to handle today.

Our last stop this evening is with the Abu Jabara family of 9 children. This is a much livelier household than the saddest of homes we have just left. Here however, there is also heartache as the mother has breast cancer. I wonder what treatments are available for women with breast cancer in Gaza but now is not the time to ask. This family used to live in Jablayia but moved away to be in a more rural area. There is great excitement over the toys, and the children don’t know which to pick. Again, there are squeals of laughter as they see themselves in digital camera.We give money for cash assistance for now.

Darkness is looming as the sun is starting to set. Ahmed is keen to leave the area, he does not want to be here in the dark. He is very uneasy this evening and this is the first I have seen him like this. I ask him if he is ok, he said he is fine, but we shouldn’t be here the area isn’t safe.

On the way back we stop of in Sabah’s mother’s garden for some tea. I like the tea here, it is way more drinkable than the coffee and it is made with mint. They guy who makes us tea, is also from the Deil El Balah area and tells me he has 11 children. He has no job and little money, life is hard, he says, and the war here made it almost unbearable. I give him some money to help with his huge family. It must be a huge worry trying to provide for so many with so little to live on. Nazem and Mohanned are waiting for us here. We sit and talk about the day. They ask about the meeting with John Ging and I tell them he is very optimistic an end to the blockade and for the future of Gaza and he is very committed to keep trying! It is important always to give hope. Life is hard enough.

My head is thumping and we stop for some paracetamol. Of the families tonight, all are in need. Of these, the greatest are the family who live closet to the border and the family with nothing in their home, not even food. I am still thinking of the girl there with only one dress to wear who has yet to eat today. Hopefully, she will at least have eaten now.

It is late as we drive back to Gaza city. We pass an open backed truck filled with sacks of flour – they are coming from the tunnels Ahmed explains. Tunnel workers also keep late hours! The girl with the one dress, no food and no chair even to sit on, is still on my mind. I have huge respect for her, I just couldn’t hack her existence.

Sunset over Deil El Balah

Ahmed and Nazem, two sound guys!

It’s been a long day and I will sleep tonight. I finish the rest ot the UNRWA water, my head still pounding. Each night I have returned happy with the little bit of light and help we have been able to bring to those we have met, however, tonight, it is different, I feel very flat. The need and the clear suffering here is too much to witness at times, although I think in part tonight, the reason is that I know I gave false hope, for unless things change here radically, the only place Gaza is going is deeper into crisis.

I reflect on the day and on the meeting with John Ging. I ask God to keep him safe and strengthen him in his work. Of all the people I have met, he is Gaza’s greatest hope here and has the persistence to keep doing what he is doing and to just possibly do what it takes to end this siege I ask God to send him a chord of angels to surround him, protect him and inspire him in his work. “My children another weapon you have at your disposal are angels.They will surround you if you ask them. So surround yourself with all that is light and the enemy will avoid you. Ask for an honour guard of My angels and you will be enveloped in powerful beings from heaven who will insure that you complete your mission in safety”. Also, that the angels and saints of heaven direct his steps and that God assigns a dedicated saint to guide and intercede for him.

Thinking then of the families I have met tonight, I ask Him to watch over them and hold them in the palm of His had. I open at: “I speak today with such love in My heart. There are those among you who suffer from financial need. You do not have enough money to sustain your family. Perhaps you do not have what you need to buy food or to pay for your family needs. My friends you are not forgotten, heaven will not abandon you... consider these two things as your basic needs. You are loved. You should ask me to send help and I will do so at once. My beloved children, I did not create you to go hungry. I did not create you to sleep in circumstances that prevent safety.... Ask me for help and I will help you. Be at peace. You have not been abandoned. Some of my children on earth have been blessed with great abundance. In some cases this great abundance has created a craving for more that is undermining heaven’s goals for the soul. Additionally, this craving has become a distraction...My beloved ones, if this describes you, if you routinely have enough food to eat and a safe place to rest, yet you continue to worry about money, you must change your standard immediately. What will you do when the time comes to leave all this? If you have financial needs that can be rectified by cutting back on your standard of living, do so at once. I will help you and I promise you this today because this is very important for you and your family. I am asking all to reconsider their needs and use less when possible”....”The time in which you live is a time of great abundance for some. It would make God happy if this abundance was shared so that few experienced hunger that resulted in disease and death. There will always be poor people, it is true, but this fact does not excuse anyone from failing to assist them. If you are wealthy you may say, what can I do? Give, give often and give more. Work for others with your power and influence. Spread holy principles of responsible use of material and financial wealth”.

I can’t believe tomorrow is Friday already. The days are flying in. I make a list of to dos. I need at least another week. Tomorrow I will have to focus on raising awareness and how fundraising is going at home. I get a text to say we had a full page in The Belfast Telegraph on Wednesday. Hopefully, the bit of exposure will help bring in some money. I pray to Our Lady of Medugorje and to The Infant of Prague for assistance.

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 12 »
Beware that this blogs entry includes disturbing imagery.