Happy Valentine’s Day from Anera

Posted in: 

Today is about expressing our gratitude and appreciation for those dear to us. We would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to the entire Anera community. While we appreciate your support every day, today is one of the few opportunities we have to be a little mushy.

In the spirit of sentimentality, here are some Valentine’s Day cards to share with your loved-ones.

💝 Something special for your Valentine 💝

Download one of these images from your friends at Anera to share with someone special in your life.


Valentines Day 2021 Cards


Supporting Healthy Hearts on Valentines Day 2020

Will you be our Valentine? Celebrate Valentine’s Day with us by revisiting how our programs and the communities where we work play a role in supporting healthy hearts!

6. Healthy Food

Young Abed climbs to the top of an olive tree in Tarqumia, West Bank.

Young Abed climbs to the top of an olive tree in Tarqumia, West Bank.

Olives and olive oil are flavorful additions to a heart healthy diet. Olives are the fruit of an ancient symbol of Palestine: rooted to the land, hardy against the odds, and bearing branches of peace. Across Palestine farmers and their families join in the effort to harvest the crop. Anera helps to preserve olive groves whenever possible

And olive oil is a major product in the Palestinian economy. Olive presses in Palestine require continuous maintenance to preserve the traditional production techniques.

“Olive oil is green gold,” says Adel Msallam Tmaizi, who owns an olive press with his brother. “We need the continual support of local and international organizations to preserve it.”

5. Youth Sports

Refugee girls in Lebanon play basketball as part of Anera's sports for Peace and Development Program.

Refugee girls in Lebanon play basketball as part of Anera’s sports for Peace and Development Program.

Regular physical activity is another important component of heart health. In Lebanon, Anera provides children and youth with a safe place to play and uses sports to teach life skills. Anera’s youth sports programs focus on training coaches, bringing communities together, building confidence, empowering girls and building safe spaces.  

Refugee crises have heightened tensions and historic friction between Lebanese, Syrians and Palestinians. Competition for space, resources, and employment increases tensions. There are few recreational facilities to allow young people to interact with one another, develop social skills of tolerance, or just have fun. Anera uses local football clubs and other sports activities to teach conflict-management and life skills, as well as health and hygiene education to marginalized boys and girls. Used in this way, sports like basketball, football, yoga, swimming and aerobics can promote understanding and peaceful coexistence among Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian communities.

4. Clean Water

A boy drinks water from an outdoor fountain
Staying hydrated, which boosts circulation, is another great way to keep your heart healthy. And having ready access to clean water is vital to keeping your thirst at bay. Unfortunately, most of Palestine suffers from a chronic lack of water caused by climate change, drought, growing cities, over-consumption, waste and pollution.

Which is why Anera was proud to launch a wastewater reuse project last year in Ramallah, helping to conserve scarce drinking water in the city. When completed in 2020, it will protect the water supply by facilitating the reuse of wastewater for non-household uses like construction, park irrigation and fire-fighting. The project will increase the amount of potable water available for drinking and cooking and greatly improve the urban living environment.

3. Anti-smoking Awareness

Youth smoking is common in Lebanon, but young refugees like Ahmad are changing kids' attitudes about drugs.

Ahmad was a smoker as a child. Now that he’s a sports coach, he’s quit smoking to become a role model for kids.

No one disputes that tobacco use is a major risk factor for heart disease. But 36% of youths in Lebanon smoke and the percentage is higher among adults (WHO). Cigarettes are easily accessible in Lebanon. And they are cheap.

“I was four years old the first time I tried to smoke,” said Ahmad Kaddoura, remembering his childhood in Rashidiyeh Palestinian Camp. “Here in the camp, even if you can’t afford a full pack, and the shopkeeper will give you several cigarettes in return.” He quit smoking in 2017, one week after completing an Anera drug awareness course targeting sports providers.

Anera also provides anti-smoking messages among its health education resources, including posters directed at children to ensure warnings about the dangers of smoking reach kids from an early age. In addition to cigarettes, Anera’s no-smoking signs feature the narghileh (hookah or shisha), since this popular pastime is also dangerous to health.

No smoking sign

No smoking sign

2. Medical Care

When 60-year-old Raef Amr from Hebron, West Bank experienced severe chest pains and tingling in his arm, he went straight to the nearest doctor.

When 60-year-old Raef Amr from Hebron, West Bank experienced severe chest pains and tingling in his arm, he went straight to the nearest doctor.

Through Anera’s in-kind donations of vital medicines and medical supplies in Palestine and Lebanon, we also address heart health directly. We help patients and health care providers get access to the medications they need for healthy hearts.

When Raef from Hebron in the West Bank experienced severe chest pains and tingling in his arm, he was quickly transported to the Hebron Hospital. Anera had recently delivered a donation of stents to the hospital from long-time partner and donor AmeriCares. Lucky for Raef, the hospital was stocked with these crucial medical instruments before his arrival—which may very well have saved his life.

“Anera is a dear name to my heart,” says Raef, who teaches at a university in Jenin. “Not only has it helped me with my recent situation but, when I was much younger, it was actually the only organization to help me fund my very first research exploring the post-traumatic impact of the first intifada [popular uprising] on children. It is an organization to lean on.”

1. Women’s Fitness

Rasha at her gym in southern Lebanon. She got a loan from Anera to keep her business going in the wake of the 2006 war.

Rasha at her gym in southern Lebanon. She got a loan from Anera to keep her business going in the wake of the 2006 war.

Women need spaces for health heart-boosting fitness activities too! Rasha Baher is a triple black belt Thai boxer who runs successful gyms for women in southern Lebanon. She rides a motorbike, to commute between the gyms she operates, turning heads for her unconventional mode of transport for a woman.

Anera provided a loan to her business, after the windows of her gym in Tyre were shattered during the 2006 war in Lebanon. The loan was part of Anera’s Southern Agriculture and Business Recovery Program, or SABR. The program provided grants of $500 to $2,000 to help rehabilitate the economy of southern Lebanon in the wake of the 2006 conflict there, helping more than 2,100 farmers, fishermen and entrepreneurs to recover from the war’s economic impact, sustain their business and continue to provide for their families and their community.

Happy Valentine's Day from your friends at Anera!

Happy Valentine’s Day from your friends at Anera!

OUR BLOG

Related

The Gaza Strip, covering an area of 365 square kilometers, is home to a population of 2.3 million people, making it one of the most densely populated regions globally, with approximately 5,900 residents per square kilometer. Since October 7, 2023,…

Read More

A recent news article shows the rising rates of child marriage in Lebanon due to economic collapse in the region.

Read More

In this log, Anera will provide updates on unfolding war in Palestine and our response. Please stay tuned here for the latest information. To subscribe for weekly updates via SMS on our response in Gaza, text GAZA to 1-866-549-0055. March…

Read More