Transport Patients from Gaza to Israeli Hospitals

Dear Supporters and Friends

During the quarter ending on February 29, 2016, our chartered minibus traveled a total of 26 trips from Gaza to Augusta Victoria and Al-Makassed hospitals in Jerusalem. We were happy to learn that two of the children we have transported from Gaza have undergone successful organ transplants in Schneider Children’s Hospital and in Rambam Hospital.

Donations received this quarter doubled our resources for transporting Palestinian patients in need from Gaza to hospitals in Jerusalem. Thanks to these contributions, we are close to meeting our projected budget for the first year of the project ending in June 2016.

This quarter 120 new driver volunteers joined The Road to Recovery following a TV story about the organization in Israel’s Channel 2. Most of the new volunteers are already taking an active part in driving Palestinian patients to Israeli hospitals. In recent weeks we observed that about 200 patients and guardians per week applied for travel through the Erez border crossing to hospitals in Israel. We expect that the additional volunteers will help us meet the increasing demand for our service and that by doing so, they will have a meaningful experience connecting with their passengers. One of our volunteers, Hagay, recently expressed this experience as follows (translated from Hebrew):

“Ali is a three-year-old toddler. Bundled up in a black parka, he dozes-off in the child car-seat belonging to my grand-daughter Gaia, next to his father, a heavy-set bespectacled Palestinian man. Both of them are from a village near Qalqilya. This is my first drive for The Road to Recovery. I have never been to the Eyal crossing – the picture my eyes see in the dim light of the breaking day seems to reflect a different world. Thousands of workers who have got up in the small hours of the night have passed through the crossing and are now wandering around in the commotion of buses, mini-buses and other vehicles. Some of them have lit bonfires to keep warm while waiting for rides.

I wait patiently at the meeting place near the toilet block – listening in the cold of the morning to the sound of my inner confidence rather than to a tremor of anxiety. Quite some time after the appointed hour, the father and his son come towards me. We have to hurry if we want to stay ahead of the traffic jams. The heater is on, and also the classical music station on the radio. Ali, says his father in Hebrew, was born with a congenital heart defect. When he was three days old, he underwent surgery for a vein transplant, and then another operation when he was one year old. They are going to the Wolfson Hospital for a check-up prior to the third and final operation – he’s fine, says the father calmly. Waze works beautifully, and helps us avoid the traffic jams by diverting us through side roads. At the entrance to the children’s department, we part ways with a handshake and a blessing.

That’s it. Nothing dramatic – just a small, simple deed. It’s a shame that I haven’t done this before. I even managed to have a morning cup of coffee with Judith …”

We thank and salute Hagay and all our volunteers and extend our warmest gratitude to all our supporters and donors. Thanks to your contributions, we have had our best quarter yet.

Sincerely,

Yuval Roth and The Road to Recovery US volunteer team