By Josie Shields-Stromsness | MECA Program Director
Our staff and partners have been very busy in Gaza! Here's a quick update on what we are doing with your support.
At the start of the new school year, MECA and our partners in Gaza distributed backpacks filled with school supplies to more than 1000 children. (See below for a link to a video!)
Israel’s twelve-year blockade of Gaza, along with an unemployment rate of more than fifty percent (the highest in the world, according to the World Bank) have caused an ever-growing number of Palestinian children to suffer from under-nutrition and malnutrition. The results of food insecurity on children are stunting, anemia, frequent and sometimes life-threatening infections, cognitive impairment, and other serious and lasting impacts on health.
With your support last spring, MECA undertook a three-month pilot project to address food and nutrient deficiency in four kindergartens in some of the poorest areas of the Gaza Strip. The tests and measurements of the kids at the end of the pilot showed that the project is slowly but surely improving the children’s health. What’s more, children came to school more regularly and their attention and behavior improved. Parents, teachers, and children are all enthusiastic about continuing this project.
We are continuing the nutrition project for 372 children at three kindergartens in Gaza: Young Dear in Beit Hanoun with 133, Al-Fawares in Al-Shujaia area with 100 children, and Ghassan Kanafani Kindergarten in Jabalia Refugee Camp with 139 children.
MECA Gaza Project Assistant Wafaa El Derawi is a trained nutritionist and experienced nutrition educator. She oversees all aspects of the Gaza Kindergarten Nutrition Project including the weekly plans for balanced meals. Each day will differ but the meals include foods such as chicken, meatballs, lentils, salads, fresh and cooked vegetables, fresh fruit and milk.
Four women were hired to purchase nutritious, affordable ingredients and prepare the food which is delivered five days a week to the kindergartens.
We are also working on an important aid project with Al-Awda Hospital in Gaza. MECA’s staff in Palestine purchased surgical instruments for the hospital. Meanwhile, the doctors and staff at Al-Awda are providing free medical care to people with diabetes and asthma, scheduling surgeries for people who can't afford to pay (already 43 surgeries were completed with your support!), and preparing to treat cancer patients and patients with kidney failure. MECA and Al-Awda staff are working closely with other hospitals and clinics in Gaza to make sure we are reaching children and families who are most in need of medical care.
"I couldn't play with my friends. But when I got better [after the surgery] I started to play with my friends and I'm happy."
- Jihad, 4 years old
Thank you so much for supporting this project! We are preparing to distribute warm winter clothes and more
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