The ceasefire in Gaza is just over a month old but there has been little rest for those trying to pick up what is left of their lives in the aftermath of the greatest destruction the tiny strip of land has ever seen.
Medical Aid for Palestinian’s (MAP) local partners have been working around the clock trying to manage the desperate need they find all around them.
Our programme currently providing care to malnourished children has seen its number of visitors soar in the aftermath of the crisis which has left one in every two people in Gaza unemployed and food stocks destroyed.
Another area of work that has been particularly busy is our programmes with people with disabilities. More than 11,000 people were injured in the attacks, many of them severely. 3,000 children were among the wounded and it is estimated that as many as 1,000 may be left with lifelong permanent disability.
Together with our partners we’ve been working to help people to come to terms with their injuries and redoubling efforts to integrate people with disabilities into the community. One way they do both of these things is by holding regular recreational days – a break from the pressures of life in Gaza.
In September, two of our local partners, the Nusirat Rehabilitation and Social Training Association (NRSTA) and El Wedad Society for Community Rehabilitation (WSCR) held an event with those who have been taking part in their ‘Inclusive and Accessible Society for All’ programme to support and empower people with disabilities to know and understand their rights.
Haitham, one of MAP’s team members who helped to organise the day, explained why outings like this are so important, particularly at this time:
‘The activity aimed to help people with disabilities and their families to try to overcome the effects of the war. The event was at Deir Al Balah beach, and 140 people from the programme, their families, and the project team, took part in the activities. These included distributing certificates to all those who completed training sessions about disability rights and empowerment’
In Gaza however, the memory of the conflict, which touched everyone’s lives in one way or another, is ever present. Another of the day’s activities was a memorial speech from the project team about Mai Assar, an 18-year-old with physical impairment who was killed by an airstrike during attacks on her neighborhood this summer.
Mona Abu Atayaa, a person with hearing impairment who attended the activities, told Haitham, “the conflict was a very difficult period and I lived in fear and terror all the time”. Samah Shaheen told Haitham she was grateful for the support she received from the team during the attacks, “it was the happiest moment when the team would contact us to see if we were ok”.
Haitham said that ‘at the end of the day, the participants left with a sense of excitement mixed with the hope that the war will never come back.’
