World Vision staff and sponsored children share their experiences.

February 15, 2008

By Margo Sabella, Middle East and Eastern European Operations (MEERO) Communications

When the wall dividing the Gaza Strip and Egypt came down on Jan. 23, thousands of Gaza children and families streamed through the breach.

'In a pressure cooker'

World Vision's South Gaza development program area serves communities in Rafah — the border town divided between Egypt and Gaza — where the wall fell.

"It was like people were in a pressure cooker, and the pressure was released," says Shafiq Yousef, World Vision's South Gaza area manager, describing the euphoria prevalent on that day. He estimates more than 500,000 people crossed into Egypt to stock up on basic necessities.

Six-year-old Hallah, sponsored through World Vision, is one of many children who crossed the border with her family that day. It was her first trip outside Gaza — a place whose land area is roughly twice the size of Washington, D.C. — and she recalls seeing people "bringing back mattresses and sheep, even a cupboard."

Others carried blankets and boxes of cookies they had purchased, she says. All of these items are increasingly difficult to find in Gaza.

Seven difficult months

"The wall has been an obstacle for families wishing to travel outside Gaza and for necessary goods to enter Gaza for more than two years," Yousef says.

"But over the past seven months, new restrictions on movement have made it almost impossible to enter or leave through designated crossing points that effectively serve as a blockade from the outside world," he adds. "Restrictions imposed by Israel, Egypt, and the international community have contributed to higher prices for basic supplies families need — such as food and household items."

Commodity prices have seen a sharp spike. For example, the price of meat has been raised to more than $8 per pound — an amount very few World Vision-supported families can afford. According to latest polls, 81 percent of families in Gaza live beneath the poverty line of $2.70 per day, and the unemployment rate is an alarming 40 percent.

A critical financial situation

"One day, a friend approached me, saying that he was unable to afford the cost of 10 shekels [about $2.76] to buy cough medicine for one of his children," says Yousef, who has resided on the Palestinian side of Rafah since 1992.

"Another day, an elderly man came to the office with tears in his eyes, saying that he could not even afford sugar and salt. He was trying desperately to find three shekels [about 84 cents] to buy his son a notebook for school."

Most families in the South Gaza program area are farmers whose lands are often in harm's way or damaged as a result of the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict, Yousef says. Even if their crops survive military incursions, they are likely unable to reach markets before their products spoil. As a result, many of these families rely predominantly upon humanitarian programs to help them survive.

Basic household supplies missing

Basic supplies, such as dairy products and detergent, have been absent from most Gaza households for months. This is largely because Gaza can't import these items from other countries.

Nour il Din, 12, another sponsored child, also made his first trip outside Gaza with his parents when the wall fell. His excitement peaked when his family purchased a few necessities — a sheep and household items, including detergent.

Although news agencies reported truckloads of goods were brought into the Gaza Strip from Egypt, these commodities won't meet even a fraction of the people's needs there, Yousef says.

World Vision plans to conduct emergency relief operations in our South Gaza and North Gaza program areas to assist about 40,000 people who are in desperate need of food and basic supplies.

"There is a raging sea of needs in Gaza … [It helps] knowing that I am doing a great service for my people through my employment with World Vision," Yousef concludes. "Witnessing the difference World Vision makes in their lives, and the part that I play in that process, gives me a deep sense of satisfaction and enables me to persist each new day."