How ANERA Responded in the 6 Months After the Bombardment of Gaza

June 29, 2009

Update on several projects

• 26 preschool teachers from the Milk for Preschoolers program gathered in ANERA's Gaza office for training in health and nutrition. Read more.

• Two of ANERA's psychosocial tents have been moved to the seaside for the summer. Throughout the summer there will be a constant rotation of two-week sessions with 50 children at a time, giving them the chance to swim and have some respite from the heat.

• 600 pairs of locally purchased shoes are in our warehouses and will be given out to needy children in the upcoming weeks.
  Help us buy more shoes >>

• ANERA is connecting 100 families in Jabalia, Khan Younis and Deir-El Balah to water networks. The work in Jabalia and Khan Younis has just been completed.

• ANERA delivered more than $3 million worth of donated medicine and medical supplies in June.

• 1,325 food parcels, purchased with a donation from the Holy Land Fund, has been distributed to four recipient organizations, each responsible for the distribution of parcels to 400 families. The food parcels include corn oil, canned meat, dates, rice, beans, jams, tuna, lentils, macaroni, tomato paste, sweet corn, halva, and Gerber baby food.

• $50,000 has been allocated for preschool renovation in Gaza. Eight preschools in total will be renovated this summer. Two have been completed and two others are currently in process. Listen to a podcast about preschool renovation.

June 9, 2009

ANERA Delivers $600,000 in Hygiene Kits to Gaza

Much-needed hygiene kits will be distributed to 7,400 families – 44,400 children and adults living in temporary shelters and tent camps in northern and central Gaza. Read more.

June 5, 2009

Fixing Sinks and Bathroom Doors at Gaza Preschools

ANERA improves the state of preschools in Gaza by conducting different degrees of rehabilitation, expansion and, in some cases, complete replacement of facilities. Read more.

June 1, 2009

Hearing Aids Delivered

Thanks to ANERA’s delivery of 100 hearing aids and testing equipment, many of Gaza’s youngsters will be able to hear clearly once again. Read more.

May 24, 2009

Vital Blood Bags Delivered

In May 2009, ANERA delivered a shipment of nearly 1,100 blood bags, donated by AmeriCares, to the Central Blood Bank. Read more.

April 27, 2009

Mine Awareness Training in Northern Gaza Farmland

Last week, upon learning of ANERA's work with farming communities in northern Gaza, the Mines Advisory Group (MAG) approached us about training in unexploded ordinance awareness. Several of ANERA's senior Gaza staff participated in the training-of-trainers session yesterday. Today, the staff held a training session at Beit Lahia Cooperative for 80 laborers and farmers participating in the plastic mulch project (see the next entry below). Read more.

April 21, 2009

Cleaning Farmland and Employing Workers in Gaza

ANERA has completed its second week of agricultural plastic clean-up of farms in northern Gaza. The project employs 30 workers, removes debris which stops plants from growing, and recycles the plastic at a nearby factory. Read the story.

April 15, 2009

Relief Kits and Blankets Distributed

ANERA has distributed 1,114 relief kits and 3,453 comforters and blankets to hundreds of needy families through the Free Thought Association in Khan Younis, Gaza. The supplies were donated by the Mennonite Central Committee and were delivered through ANERA's In Kind and Medical Relief Program.

April 14, 2009

Psychosocial Program Progress

ANERA’s psychosocial program has been operating less than two months and is reaching out to 6,500 children and 1,500 adults to help them overcome their stress and deal with the horrors they experienced during the 22-day war. Already our partner Community Training and Community Crisis Management (CTCCM) is reporting heartwarming successes.

A group of women meeting regularly in the adults’ tent find it easier now to deal with their families’ traumas. “I told my husband and kids about what I learned in the therapy session and how to use it to ease their stress,” said one mother.  Another agreed, “Now I know how I inappropriately dealt with my kids' problems and can change my approach.”	Along with the regular therapy sessions, CTCM is well aware of the long-term effort needed to improve the emotional well-being of Gaza’s youngsters. The center has started training 32 younger psychosocial workers to build more teams and the capacity to meet the challenge. This photo is of one worker explaining a drawing by one of the children.
13-year-old Sondos at first didn’t talk with other children or even mention her name. She couldn’t concentrate and appeared depressed and anxious. During the Israeli shelling of Gaza, she watched helplessly as a bomb killed her mother. Her family sought help with ANERA’s psychosocial team. Today, Sondos is singing and talking with others. She has become more active and open.	In the midst of devastation, tents have been set up to create environments of love, safety, support and trust. Children have a place to come to play games, draw pictures, sing, and do trust-building exercises.

March 28, 2009

More Food Aid Packets Arriving in Gaza

Another 66 pallets of food are being delivered to ANERA's warehouse in Gaza today - 114 more pallets are being coordinated for delivery next week. This is the second grant for food distribution ANERA has received from the Associates of Rural Development through the U.S. Agency for International Development. In the past month, ANERA has distributed over 3,500 food packages to needy families in Gaza. Read the story here.

March 24, 2009

Psychosocial Support Center Opens in Gaza

In partnership with a local organization, ANERA has launched a psychosocial support program for families. In the center of Gaza, a tent staffed by social workers has opened. This team of experts helps rebuild trust and confidence in those who have experienced trauma during the war. Due to the huge response, there are plans to set up another tent in the area for children aged 6-14. Read more.

March 6, 2009

A New Shipment of Pharmaceuticals Arrives in Gaza

A shipment containing high-value antibiotics, sutures, wound dressing, water purification tablets, and other items has arrived in our warehouse in Gaza. This shipment originated in Europe and was sponsored by the Jerusalem Fund and National Arab American Medical Association. The U.S. value of the donation is $850,000. The items will be distributed to charitable hospitals and clinics where they are in short supply. To read our in-kind shipping report for March, click here.

March 3, 2009

$746,000 in Food Aid Packets Arriving in Gaza

ANERA has begun receiving into its Gaza warehouses, $746,000 in food packets, purchased and prepackaged in the West Bank. The funding came from the Associates of Rural Development through a generous grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development. Each packet contains items such as cooking oil, rice, lentils, baby food, tuna and other foods - enough to feed a family of six for over a week. Distributions will take place in Khan Younis, Rafah and Gaza City. Read more.

March 1, 2009

Psychosocial Work Begins

ANERA today began doing psychosocial work with 6,500 chidren (ages 8 to 14) and their parents. Experienced trauma counselors with special training will work with children, conducting group sessions to encourage more interaction with peers and sharing of feelings about what they have witnessed. Read more.

February 25, 2009

Cleaning Farms, Recycling Plastics and Putting People to Work

ANERA today received $50,000 from the U.S. Organization for Medical and Educational Needs (U.S. OMEN) for a plastic clean-up project.

The project, which starts this string, will employ 30-50 unskilled laborers for four months to collect over 100 tons of plastic waste from hundreds of acres of agricultural lands in the northern and southern regions of Gaza.

In the process, farmers will be educated about using environmentally friendly practices. A local plastic factory will recycle the plastic to make compost barrels and irrigation pipes for farmers as well as temporary window and door coverings for buildings damaged in the recent bombardment.

This $50,000 comes in addition to the $22,000 given by the Firedoll Foundation. The total project budget is $100,000.

February 15, 2009

Revitalizing Gaza's Economy

As part of its effort to revitalize the local Gaza economy, ANERA has distributed chickens to 50 families who will breed them and harvest the eggs. Each family receives 10 chickens, one rooster, cages and a bag of feed. In order to qualify to receive the birds, families must have adequate yard space and show they have the means to purchase chicken feed after the initial bag has been consumed. The cost per family is $200. Read a story.

February 12, 2009

Medicines and Health Care Supplies Distributed

ANERA has just delivered health care supplies and medicines, donated by AmeriCares, to health clinics and hospitals in Gaza. Read a story about how the delivery is helping at El-Shaaf Clinic >>

February 9, 2009

ANERA President in Gaza

ANERA President Bill Corcoran arrived in Gaza this morning. His three-day itinerary includes visits to numerous partners, meetings with United Nations officials, tours of new warehouse facilities, discussions and briefings with staff, and trips into communities that experienced great damage to water systems and infractructure during 22 days of fighting. Corcoran will also be delivering to preschools "Hello My Lovelies", a booklet containing messages from around the world to children in Gaza. Read a first-person update from the president >>

February 5, 2009

Milk for Preschoolers Restarted

Preschools all over Gaza are open again and, in the last two weeks, ANERA distributed vitamin-fortified snacks of milk and biscuits to 25,200 children at 184 preschools in Gaza (read more).

ANERA Receives $42,000 in Foundation Grants for Gaza

ANERA announces the receipt of a $5,000 grant from the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies Contribution Fund, another $5,000 from Iara Lee/Caipirinha Foundation , and two grants totaling $32,000 from the Firedoll Foundation. All monies will go to relief work in Gaza. One of the Firedoll grants will fund the second phase of a plastic mulch agricultural clean-up project, the first phase of which took place last March (read a story about the project). This project provides much needed employment and will recycle discarded plastics into tarps to be used as temporary window covers for damaged homes.

Food Distribution in Khan Younis,Rafah and Around Gaza City

Yesterday, through several partner institutions, ANERA distributed packets of food aid to needy families in Khan Younis, Rafah and around Gaza City. ANERA is getting food to families not covered by the U.N. Refugee Works Agency, which primarily provides aid to people registered as refugees.

February 3, 2009

ANERA Receives $746,000 from USAID for Gaza Food Relief

In the next week, ANERA will use this generous grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development to purchase food and begin assembling packets, each containing enough sustenance to feed a Gaza family of six for over a week. The packets are put together in the West Bank and will be shipped to Gaza beginning in the last week of February. ANERA has received nearly $1 million for food relief in Gaza from USAID since January.

$350,000 in Food Aid in Gaza and Ready for Distribution

ANERA has received at its warehouse in Gaza food packets worth $350,000. ANERA contributed $100,000 toward the shipment and USAID contributed $250,000. Distribution will begin in the next few days. To assist in handling the high volume of food and medicines coming into its warehouses in Gaza, ANERA has hired extra staff, including a professional logistician.

January 30, 2009

Life-Saving Medicine Delivered to Gaza

ANERA has delivered into Gaza precious vials of donated Cerezyme, a medicine to treat a deadly disease called Goucher's. The vials were carried to the Eretz crossing point by an ANERA staff member and turned over to Israeli soldiers, who arranged for it to be carried to the Palestinian side. From there an ANERA staff member from the Gaza office transported the medicine to Al Shifa Hospital, where it is being administered to the four Goucher's patients in Gaza (two from Rafah, one from Jabalia and one in Nuseirat). Says ANERA Vice President Philip Davies, "Children with special medical conditions can’t do without their medicine, no matter what the situation is."

January 26, 2009

ANERA Middle East Representative is in Gaza Today and Tomorrow

ANERA Middle East Representative Robert Crothers, based in Jerusalem, has entered Gaza today to meet with our 16 staff members. During his two days, he will be talking with partners in ANERA's Milk for Preschoolers and psychosocial programs as well as looking at damage to water and sewage systems.

January 23, 2009

ANERA's Milk for Preschoolers Program is Restocked and Ready to Restart

On January 21, a truck with 22 pallets of fortified biscuits was delivered to the Sinokrot warehouse in Gaza. Each pallet contains 48 cartons containing 12 boxes of 24 individual biscuits. In addition, three trucks with 75 pallets of fortified milk from the Juneidi diary in Hebron were delivered to Gaza on January 18. This replaces the 81 pallets which reached Gaza during the first week of the fighting and was subsequently distributed by the United Nations to families in need. Each pallet contains 104 cartons of milk and each carton has 36 small packs of milk.

ANERA Delivers $1.1 Million in Medical Supplies to Gaza

ANERA has successfully delivered to its warehouse in Gaza antibiotics, pain medicines, blood pressure medicines and supplies for emergency and surgical care. The shipment, valued at $1.1 million, was donated by AmeriCares.

January 22, 2009

ANERA Delivers $2.1 Million in Medical Supplies to Gaza

ANERA has successfully delivered to its warehouse in Gaza $2.1 million worth of medicines and health care supplies, donated by AmeriCares. Delivery to recipient hospitals will be expedited in order to respond to heavy demands. The shipment includes supplies such as toothbrushes, examination tables, antibiotics, cardiovascular medicines, dermatologic analgesics, syringes and eye drops.

January 21-22, 2009

ANERA Delivers 246 Pallets of Food Aid to Gaza

On January 21 and 22, ANERA delivered into Gaza $365,000 in food aid, on a total of 246 pallets. The emergency food packets contain enough food to feed a family of six for approximately two weeks. They are prepared in the West Bank by the Palestinian Food Industries Association. Funding came from Secours Islamique (Islamic Relief of France).

January 21, 2009

Vitamin-Fortified Biscuits Delivered to Gaza

Six pallets of vitamin-fortified biscuits for preschool children arrived in Gaza today. They were shipped by the manufacturer, located in the West Bank. They make up half of the daily school day snack - consisting of milk and a biscuit - which ANERA distibutes to approximately 20,000 preschoolers in Gaza. ANERA anticipates restarting the Milk for Preschoolers program in a matter of days, when schools reopen.

January 20, 2009

ANERA Begins Assessing the Damage in Gaza

Now that they can move around freely, ANERA staff in Gaza have prepared at the request of USAID a preliminary assessment of damage to the water and sanitation system caused by the 22-day war. As expected, the damage is widespread and substantial. Drinking water, sewage lines, and electricity supplies have affected services to thousands of households all over Gaza. Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahia, Jabalia Camp, Izbet Abed Rabbo, Khan Younis and Rafah, as well as certain outlying neighborhoods of Gaza City, including al Zeitoun, al Daraj, and al Sabra, have sustained major damage. ANERA staff will continue a community-by-community assessment using additional engineering consultants as needed.

January 19, 2009

ANERA Rents Additional Warehouse Space for Food and Medicines

ANERA has rented additional warehouse space to handle the combined flow of donated food and medical in-kind arriving in the coming weeks.

 

January 18, 2009

ANERA's First Shipment of Food for Gaza Leaves Warehouse

Today, ANERA completed assembly of more than 2,200 food parcels and shipped them to the United Nations for delivery into Gaza. The packets were prepared by the Palestinian Food Industries Association in the West Bank. They were funded through a grant of $365,000 from Secours Islamique.

Canned goods ready to be added to food packets going to Gaza families.	Over 2,200 packets of food left the warehouse today, bound for Gaza.

 

 

January 15, 2009 ANERA Delivers 15 Pallets for Gaza ANERA delivered to the U.N. 4,480 hygiene kits (soap, shampoo, toothpaste, etc.) and 840 blankets, valued at $21,000 and donated by Latter-day Saints Charities. These items will be distributed in Gaza next week.

 

January 14, 2009

ANERA Receives $250,000 from USAID for Gaza Relief

Today, ANERA signed an agreement with the United States Agency for International Development to deliver food parcels into Gaza. ANERA is receiving $250,000 from the agency and contributing $100,000 from its private funds to deliver into Gaza more than 1,900 food parcels, assembled in the West Bank and valued at $165 each.

 

January 13, 2009

$365,000 Donated by Secours Islamique

Secours Islamique (Islamic Relief of France) donated $365,000 for the purchase of more than 2,200 food parcels for Gaza relief. This donation is in addition to their generous support of the Milk for Preschoolers program in Gaza.

 

January 13, 2009

$2.1 Million in Medical Supplies Clears Customs

A shipment of medicines and health care supplies, donated by AmeriCares and valued at $2.1 million, has been cleared by Israeli customs and is expected to be delivered into Gaza this week.

 

January 9, 2009

81 Pallets of Milk Delivered

ANERA reports that 81 pallets of fortified milk were successfully delivered into Gaza last night. Approximately half were delivered to Khan Younis and half to Gaza City. The milk, originally intended for ANERA's Milk for Preschoolers program, would normally feed 20,000 preschoolers every school day until the end of the academic year. Now, a large portion of the milk will be used to provide emergency relief to hungry children until schools can be rebuilt and classes restarted.