Launching a message of Light to you from Palestinians who live in Gaza
You can change life in Gaza — that's what Artist Maysa Yousef and her husband came up with when we asked Gaza artists to design a logo for the #GazaLightMessage campaign.
I am honored to announce that the Local Staff Union - Gaza is co-sponsoring this campaign each Wednesday night and, via Facebook and email, is inviting its 13,000 members to participate from their homes, then post photos and messages using hashtags, غزة_رسالة_ضوء# #GazaLightMessage. The members of the LSU are employees of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and with their commitment, professionalism, and expertise, they are a key to Gaza's future.
Gaza's social media activists have joined too, another key to Gaza's future. (see the article below).
Over the next seven weeks, I invite you to click "Going" to our Facebook event, and respond to the weekly hashtag messages posted by the people of Gaza (to do this, go to Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and paste #GazaLightMessage or or غزة_رسالة_ضوء# to see them and post a comment). After January 3rd when the new Congress is sworn-in, we'll send you an Action alert to help you press Congress to restore the U.S. aid cancelled by President Trump, recognize Palestinian planning rights, keep the U.S. Consulate open in Jerusalem, and lift the blockade on Gaza.
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Little Suns make smiles in Gaza
I perked up when I was told by We Are Not Numbers that its partner NGO, the Rebuilding Alliance, was going to distribute Little Sun solar lights to people in particular need of light at this dark time of year in Gaza. It has been a long time since I had participated in community service, so—despite the early starting time, which goes against my nature—I jumped at the chance to participate. When I see people in need receive help and witness happiness bursting from the depth of their hearts into their eyes, I forget all of the tragedy and suffering that dominates life in Gaza.
However, although I have participated in many charitable activities during my years, this one was really special. I found myself wishing that everyone—both inside Gaza and out, where they often don’t understand us—could have accompanied me during this experience and felt what I felt. So, let me try to share a little of it with you.
The warmest and kindest salute
First, we visited the Al-Amal Society for Rehabilitation, which serves hundreds of deaf and mute students in Rafah, in the far south of the Gaza Strip. The pride they felt upon receiving the gift of the Little Suns was evident as we began distributing the solar lamps. One little girl kept staring at her Little Sun, without a single blink, as if she had been given the most valuable prize in the world.
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I feel like I’ve lost my life,’ say victims of UNRWA funding cuts
“I haven’t just lost a job. I feel like I’ve lost my life,” says 39-year-old Raeda Younis, who has worked for UNRWA, the U.N. agency charged with aiding Palestinian refugees, for 16 years.
Osama Naseer, 48, agrees.
“It is our right to live in dignity like anyone else,” fumes the 17-year employee. “It is time to tear down the wall of silence and tell Donald Trump we will not surrender to his racist policies even if we die of hunger.”
Raeda and Osama are among nearly1,000 U.N. employees whose contracts were terminated or who will be transferred to part-time work by the end of the year. The cuts came after the U.S. government, UNRWA’s largest funder, eliminated its contribution of $125 million. And now, the agency says its schools and health centers might soon have to shut down.
In a territory with an unemployment rate of more than 50 percent, UNRWA jobs had been among the most stable and sufficiently paid. Many Gazans had been working for the agency for more than 20 years. Raeda first served for three years in on an emergency team that helped out during crises, like during wars. Then she transferred to a school and became a counselor. She never dreamed she’d lose her job so suddenly.
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UN Funding Cuts Jeopardize Partner NGO Helping Deaf Children
Zeyad Aabed has devoted his career—26 years—to running an NGO dedicated to offering education and health services to the deaf. It was, to say the least, a labor of love. But now, much of the funding on which his NGO depends is drying up. And today, he feels exhausted and depressed, fearful he will have to close the El-Amal Rehabilitation Society altogether.
The steep cuts in funding for the U.N. agency charged with aiding at least 5 million Palestinian refugees are sending myriad ripple effects across the Gaza Strip. In the news are the UNRWA employees whose jobs have been eliminated, cut back to part-time or converted to “temporary.” But what isn’t widely known is that funding from UNRWA and other international aid organizations accounts for 70 percent of the income for local NGOs in Gaza—which in turn generates a third of the jobs.
El-Amal—which means "hope" in Arabic—was established in 1992 as a school for the deaf in Rafah, in the far south of the Gaza Strip. Over the years, it has expanded to offer a variety of other programs, including a kindergarten, vocational training and adult literacy-building activities. All are free of charge, since many who are hearing impaired struggle to earn an income.
“The goal is to offer a continuum of services throughout our clients’ lifecycles,” explains CEO Aabed. For example, a 5-year-old child can join the association's kindergarten, then progress into its Darwish Abu Skarekh School, the only school for the deaf in southern Gaza. When students finish the ninth grade, they either may move to Gaza City's secondary school for the deaf, which is privately run and thus too expensive for many people, or join El-Amal's vocational training center.
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Solar Replaces Candlelight for Gaza Family, Bringing Peace to a Mother’s Heart
When you live mired in poverty, every detail of daily life is a challenge. Abeer and Salah al-Akharsah, along with their seven children (and an eighth on the way), live in a remote area of the Gaza Strip—Eraiba, northwest of Rafah. Salah, 41, used to earn a decent income as a trader of goods transported through the tunnels connecting Gaza with Egypt.
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'Light of Hope' Helps Girls Enjoy Nights Again
I was not prepared for what I found when I visited the al-Malalha family in Rafah, in the far south of the Gaza Strip. Their street was lightless, but the dim glow of the moon helped me see so I could walk without tripping. It was lined with farmland and greenhouses. Nothing could be heard but the sound of crickets.
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Caring for the Deaf is El-Amal’s ‘Mission of Love’
Over the past 10 years, three wars waged on the Gaza Strip have had devastating effects on the population of 2 million in both large and small ways. Since the first war in 2008/09, says Hedaya Abu Lehia, a technician assistant at the El-Amal Audiology Clinic, Gaza has seen a 30 percent increase in hearing impairment. The reason, she reports, is the exposure to loud explosions.
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Gaza Center Teaches Women to 'Fish'
There's an old axiom that says, "Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime." However, the Women's Programs Centre in Gaza's city of Rafah believes it should be rewritten this way, "Teach a woman to fish, and everyone eats for a lifetime."
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