Personal Story

‘We wanted to run away but we couldn’t leave the house because the tanks were shooting.
We were hiding and screaming. Some people forgot about their children and they were left
outside.Then I saw my uncle running to help an injured man…
He was shot by a tank and I saw him die in front of my eyes.’

Amani is only nine years old and has seen things any adult would struggle with. She and her sister (six–year-old Riham) were living in Nemsawi, in the southern Gaza Strip, when the attack happened. The area had been under fire many times, and the girls were surrounded by the effects of violence.

Both Amani and Riham attend the Sunrise and Hope Centre in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza, one of two centres run by Christian Aid partner the Culture and Free Thought Association (CFTA) in the midst of some of the most deprived districts in the Gaza Strip.

The Sunrise and Hope Centre is a safe place for children to behave like children. The centre provides music, singing, art and lots of interactive games to play. It is a haven from some of the harsher realities of life in their neighbourhood, which is full of rubble and demolished homes.

And the centre has another purpose: to help children with the after-effects of the kind of events Amani and her sister have experienced. Those traumatised can receive counselling and attend play therapy sessions.

CFTA help many children traumatised in the conflict by getting them to play in a pool filled with coloured balls. Here they can get rid of some of their feelings of anger. It can also help children who have ecome withdrawn to release their feelings.

‘They put me in the ball pool to throw balls around with the teacher and I feel better after I have played there,’ one eleven-year old boy said. He had seen his grandmother dragged from her home in the night, and his father shot in the hand. Healing takes time, but CFTA gives space and expertise for it to happen.

Report on two focus partners from Christian Aid website

Israeli air strikes on Gaza in June 2006 targeted and destroyed the main power station supplying electricity to the entire Strip.

This has had a knock-on effect on generator-powered water wells and the operation of medical equipment in hospitals. There are growing concerns about the deepening humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.

Culture and Free Thought Association (CFTA)

Christian Aid has given an emergency grant to CFTA to cover the costs of a generator and fuel costs for six months and the salary of a psychologist to supervise CFTA's field workers and therapists working with children.
We have also given an emergency grant of £30,000 towards the running of the Women’s Health Centre run by CFTA in Gaza.

Due to limited fuel supplies and the priority on emergency treatment, family planning and women’s health in Gaza is suffering from lack of resources.

The grant will help to keep the centre open and operational.

CFTA was set up in 1992 to improve the lives of children who live in Khan Yunis, one of the poorest refugee camps in the Gaza Strip.

Today it runs community activities for children, young people and women, including the Shuruq wal Amal ( Sunrise and Hope) Centre for children and Bunat Al Ghad (Builders of the Future) Teenagers’ Centre.

CFTA staff help children with anger management and teaches them traditional dances and music, football, singing, art, and lots of interactive games. Its summer clubs give hope to young children and a safe environment in which to be expressive and creative.

Christian Aid has given almost £14,000 to CFTA to keep the centre running while power shortages continue.

Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committee (PARC)

PARC has more than two decades of experience providing agricultural relief and emergency support.

Through PARC, Christian Aid is supplying 500 families in northern and southern Gaza with water tanks to enable them to store fresh and safe drinking water.

According to PARC 60% of the tanks will be allocated to replace destroyed and damaged water tanks, and 40% will be distributed to families who have never had safe storage facilities.

Christian Aid has given £20,000 towards this work.

ACT

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