18.12.2014
Prepare A Place Appeal – Al Ahli Hospital in Gaza Meets Community Needs
Dublin and Glendalough’s ‘Prepare a Place’ emergency Advent Appeal to raise funds for Al Ahli Hospital in Gaza City continues. The appeal aims to raise €150,000 for two projects at the hospital which is run by the Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem.
The hospital, which is the only Christian hospital in Gaza and serves the entire community, has asked Dublin and Glendalough to support two projects: the installation of solar panels and the refurbishment of the staff on call room.
The non–political appeal is being coordinated by a partnership between the diocesan Council for Mission, the United Society, Bishops’ Appeal and Friends of Sabeel. It is part of a longer term programme to develop a link between the Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough and Jerusalem.
In November, the Director of the United Society in Ireland, Linda Chambers, travelled to Gaza to visit Al Ahli Hospital with her husband and US volunteer, Jan de Bruijn. They witnessed the work the hospital is doing across the community in Gaza. As Al Ahli’s mission statement puts it: “The hospital offers to serve all who seek treatment without prejudice to any religious or ethnic community and irrespective of social class, gender and political affiliation. These services are delivered in a spirit of love and service. Ahli Arab Hospital recognises the value of its staff and volunteers and promotes equal and compassionate treatment with dignity and respect to all”.
The hospital director is Suhaila Tarazi. There are other, bigger hospitals, but Al Ahli is popular in the city, and provides services to all.
Linda describes the wide range of patients she saw while visiting the hospital from a young mother with her underweight baby and a father whose sons are suffering from skin complaints to women in the mammography department. The hospital aims to meet the needs of the local population and the highest cause of death in Gaza is breast cancer. The hospital has developed its programme in response to figures released by the Palestine Central Bureau of Statistics.
They visited the burns unit which, along with the operating theatres, was very busy during the conflict but it remains busy now as the lack of cooking gas in Gaza means the people cook over open fires. While they were there, they saw a woman who had stepped on hot coals and a young man who had burned his arm with boiling oil while deep frying over an open fire. They were both treated with a whirlpool – a tank of water like a mini jacuzzi which encourages blood flow into damaged tissue. The staff were awaiting the arrival of a tiny patient who, while learning to walk, sat on the cooking fire and had severe burns to his buttocks.
The psychosocial services unit, which was full of children playing a noisy game of follow the leader when Linda and Jan visited, meets another local need. The children had been identified by hospital–trained community volunteers as being in need of psychosocial services as a result of the recent war. The children are mostly resident in the inner city and the refugee camps. They come every day for two hours Monday to Thursday, when they play games to boost self esteem and benefit from art therapy. On Fridays they are taken out for “joyful days” to the beach or to some of the limited free space in Gaza. They are assessed each week, and offered another week if necessary, or one–to–one counselling if appropriate.
After follow the leader, they settled into a large circle and were handed out worksheets and colouring pencils. “The task this day is to draw something that frightens them, something they would like to run away from. Almost all make reference to the war. Some draw very accurate helicopters and tanks. Some draw missiles hitting buildings, and one draws a dismembered body. They all draw from personal experience,” Linda recalls.
The provision of solar panels will directly meet a need at Al Ahli Hopsital. Currently in Gaza all homes, businesses and hospitals have only four hours electricity per day. Areas are scheduled on and off, and sometimes the four hours will be during the night. Al Ahli Hospital has generators as back–up, and these allow operating theatres and electronic equipment to continue to be used. But fuel for generators is expensive, and one of the generators is 15 years old.
The cost of providing solar panels is €150,000, but this is a very cost effective project as the annual saving on fuel for the generators will be €80,000. It will also be more environmentally friendly.
The second proposal is for the refurbishment of the on–call doctors’ residence – an apartment on the top floor. It hasn’t been refurbished for more than 15 years. It is in poor condition, and has no hot water. It also needs to be enlarged to provide more beds.
Donations to Dublin and Glendalough’s ‘Prepare A Place’ Advent Appeal for Al Ahli Hospital can be made via Bishops’ Appeal either by using envelopes which are available in all parish churches or by electronic transfer to IBAN: IE31 BOFI 9000 1749 8394 99 BIC: BOFIIE2D (reference Gaza).
Keep up to date with the campaign and let people know what you are doing by posting on the ‘Prepare a Place’ Facebook page: www.facebook.com/prepareaplace
Photos show:
Suhaila Tarazi, Linda Chambers and Samira Farah
A man being treated in the burns unit.
Children in the psychosocial services unit.