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At 78 years old, Al Haj Awad Yousef Khalil Al Batsh has seen his share of wars and suffering. But the last two months in his Gaza neighborhood of Ezbet Abed Rabbo defy description.
At the height of the attacks, Awad received food assistance from UPA. And on Sunday, February 22, his was one of 1,000 families that received a week's supply of fresh water courtesy of a UPA grant and a volunteer distribution effort led by the Palestinian Center for Youth Work.
Awad told a UPA volunteer why the water supplies are so important. "My sons go to a water well that is 500 meters down a dusty, slippery road. I worry about them carrying enough water for all 30 of us, and then I worry that the water itself is unclean. It tastes bad, but we usually have no choice."
For his children, a father will endure hunger and despair, looking for ways to protect, provide and sustain hope. Where there is love, goes the saying, there is a way.
Without water, however, the way is short lived.
Refugees twice-over
Just east of Jabaliya, the largest Palestinian refugee camp, his neighborhood was in the firing line throughout Israel's three-week ground, sea and air invasion of Gaza. When the guns fell silent, more than 21,000 homes had been left uninhabitable, making some 100,000 people refugees twice-over.
Awad was among them. He and the other 29 members of his family -- 14 of whom are under the age of 15 -- fled their home at the beginning of Israel's invasion on December 27, seeking shelter at a United Nations school.
It was there that they contended for space on the cold, concrete floor of a classroom, huddled against the relentless bombing with 400 others -- all families with nowhere to flee and no way to console the frantic children among them.
Necessities like mattresses, blankets, food and clean water were available, but scarce. The ordinary comforts of basic hygiene -- showers, toothbrushing, bathing babies -- had to wait indefinitely. Like most buildings in Gaza, the school was a shell of its intended purpose, windowless and exposed to the winter outside.
Blessings
For Awad, the attacks changed everything. "Before, we had very little. But we ate what we cultivated, we had chickens and goats and were content with the meat and milk they provided us. Now we've lost even these simple blessings."
When the attacks were over, Awad returned to his house to find a small portion of its roof still teetering atop damaged columns. All else -- mattresses, blankets, clothes, even the children's school bags and uniforms -- were buried under the rubble. Now the family makes do with improvised shelter and emergency food rations.
As Palestinians in Gaza remain steadfast in the face of violence and a crippling 20-month siege, our job at UPA is to sustain them and the hope that resides with thousands of families like Awad's.
Please help us do more.
