Nearly 700 needy children are currently being sponsored through 31 local schools, orphanages, and charities in the West Bank, Gaza, and refugee camps in Lebanon. With the generous contributions of our supporters, UPA is continuing to send funds despite the circumstances in Palestine and Lebanon.

In May, Child Sponsorship Coordinator Melinda Borne met with select partner organizations in Lebanon, Hebron, and Nablus, visiting sponsored children in orphanages and schools, as well as being welcomed into their homes.

In Shatila refugee camp, Lebanon, Palestinian families continue to live in squalid conditions. Sponsored child Ali Hassan Ali, for example, lives with his mother and 7 siblings in a small three-room apartment of a former hospital. All of them share two mattresses and, like the other refugees there, can only access water three times a week. Yet, they remain hopeful.

Thanks to his sponsor, Ali, who is in third grade at an UNRWA school, was able to buy school supplies this year . And his mother, struggling to meet the basic needs of her family, has one less worry.

Our contributors continue to sponsor children in several refugee camps around Lebanon, including Nahr El-Bared, Baddawi, Burj El-Barajneh, Burj El Shemali, Ein El-Hilweh, Weivel, Shatila, and Mieh Mieh.

In the West Bank and Gaza, too, our work continues. Melinda visited disabled children in Nablus, where services are scarce.

She was welcomed in Askar village by the Khadrah family, who depend on sponsorship funds to buy medicine for their daughter Ala’a. Ala’a relies on this medicine to cope with the effects of spinal surgery.

In Nablus, Melinda also visited the Kharaz family, who have three disabled children sponsored through UPA: Murad, Ala’a and Ata’a. Their father, Osamah, explained how hard it is for them to go to school because of the lack of services there. Without a functioning elevator to service her family’s apartment, getting Ata’a to school means carrying her – wheelchair and all – down five flights of stairs..

“They are clearly yearning for more contact with the outside world,” Melinda says of the sponsored children. “Letters from their sponsors mean a lot to them.” Ata’a’s father confirmed this when he implored, “Don’t let the world forget about us.”

Since Melinda’s visit, the number of children in need of sponsors has grown tremendously. UPA is now vigorously seeking new sponsors for those children that could benefit from the Child Sponsorship Program. With the generous commitment of our regular sponsors, UPA intends to show Palestinians that the world has not forgotten them.

Get more information about the UPA Child Sponsorship Program and learn how to sponsor a needy child today.