In April of 2008, we asked our Anera community to send words of support and encouragement to the staff and students at Atfaluna Society for Deaf Children, in Gaza.

In response, over 300 loving messages went to Atfaluna (read a selection of them) and the staff and students there have responded with a lovely thank-you booklet to share with the Anera community. Accompanying the booklet was the following note from Ms. Gerry Shawa, the school's director:

"It can be very lonely here in the Gaza Strip - so cut off from the rest of the world with little news to encourage us and the extremely harsh effects of the embargo burdening our daily lives: no cooking fuel, no fuel for our school buses, no hearing aids or batteries for the children, and closed borders making for a lot of human suffering and tearing families apart.

"Your beautiful messages warmed our hearts and truly gave us some much-needed hope. Please find attached some of the messages the children and staff send to our good friends." Read the "thank you" messages >>