Reflections a Visit to Gaza

ANERA staff meeting in the Gaza office.

Rania's Slideshow

Rania, an ANERA staff member in the Gaza office, accompanied Bill on his trip around Gaza and took snapshots along the way. These are some of her images.

by Bill Corcoran, President of ANERA

Gaza City is looking like a poor African village these days. There are more donkey carts in the streets than cars and children run around barefoot in tattered t-shirts.

A visit to Al Ahli Hospital, owned by the Episcopal Church, sheds a little more light on the hardships people in Gaza face. Lack of gas has sidelined the ambulances. Electricity comes and goes and the hospital is forced to run with generators – that is, when there is diesel fuel. Surgery is limited to three days a week. Besides that, x-rays haven’t been done in over a month because there is film to be had in the city. Doctors told me about the rapid increase in the incidence of child malnourishment.

The frustration is slowly pulling apart the fabric of a society that used to have the neighborliness of a small town.

Traffic accidents quickly degenerate into fist fights and domestic violence is increasing. In seven months, Dr. Fadi, a psychologist with ANERA, has treated 1,000 children for depression and severe stress. Bedwetting and acting-out in class are obvious indicators.

With food prices at 300% of last year's costs, it is no wonder that families are tense. Finding a decent meal, buying medicine and reaching a doctor are everyday worries of Gaza parents.

I brought chocolates for the ANERA staff. It was the first they had seen in weeks. Instead of eating it in the office, they took it home to their children to provide relief from a disaster that seems to have no end, even under the truce.