Emergency Aid for Children in Gaza

Summary
MECA will deliver urgent aid to children and families in Gaza. We will purchase milk, cheese, dates, and biscuits to distribute to displaced families and purchase medicine and medical supplies for hospitals and clinics. Gaza is suffering from another major Israeli attack. More than 160 children have been killed in the last 16 days. Tens of thousands of people are displaced, seeking safety in schools or relative's homes.
What is the issue, problem, or challenge?

There are an estimated 135,000 displaced people in Gaza right now in urgent need of food assistance. The number increases every day as more homes are destroyed by Israeli air strikes or more people leave their homes in search of safety. Most of these families left their homes in a panic without bringing clothing, blankets, medicine, or food supplies. Meanwhile, injuries increase by the hour and hospitals are running out of vital medications and medical supplies.
How will this project solve this problem?

MECA will purchase milk, cheese, dates, biscuits, etc from local vendors in Gaza. Our staff and volunteer team will then package and distribute them to families. We have already distributed 400 packages to families but there is much greater need every day. MECA will also send grants to Red Crescent Society and Union of Health Work Committees to purchase medicine and medical supplies for their clinics and hospitals.
Potential Long Term Impact

This project is purely an emergency effort aimed at helping children and families in Gaza heal and survive during a very difficult period. After the bombings and shellings stop, we will work with our partner organizations and staff on the ground in Gaza to assess the needs of the traumatized children and make plans to provide long-term support.
Funding Information

Total Funding Received to Date: $914
Remaining Goal to be Funded: $9,086
Total Funding Goal: $10,000

Resources

• http://www.mecaforpeace.org
• Gaza emergency Humanitarian Snapshot (July 22)
• Please help children in Gaza!
• In Gaza, No Safe Place For Civilians: UN
• Aid to Palestine: MECA's previous aid work

Donate by US Mobile Phone

Text GIVE 17762 to 80088 to donate $10 to Emergency Aid for Children in Gaza. Message and data rates may apply. Only works for US mobile phones. 

12:53 AM - By Unknown 0

Gaza doctors save baby from her dead mother's womb

KHAN YUNIS (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - When the doctors gently pulled the tiny newborn from her mother's womb in an emergency Caesarian section, the woman had already been dead for an hour.

Twenty-three-year-old Shayma al-Sheikh Qanan was eight months pregnant when an Israeli tank shell hit her home in the central Gaza Strip town of Deir al-Balah, reducing it to rubble.

She was left in critical condition and her husband, a local radio journalist, was also badly wounded.

"Her body was brought in after an Israeli shelling at 3:00 am on Friday," said Doctor Fadi al-Kharti, who was at Deir al-Balah hospital when she was rushed in.

"We tried to revive her but she had died on the way to hospital."

Before paramedics managed to dig her out, she had been stuck under the rubble of her home for an hour.

"Then we noticed movement in her stomach, and estimated she was about 36 weeks pregnant," he says.

Doctors performed an immediate Caesarian section and saved the baby, who was named after her late mother.

For 43-year-old Mirfat Qanan, it was a tragedy to lose her daughter, but she was delighted at becoming a grandmother for the first time.

"God has protected this child for me. My daughter Shayma is dead, but I now have a new daughter," she said.

Palestinians run for cover during clashes with Israeli soldiers following a protest against the war  …

"She'll call me 'mummy' just like her mother did."

For the time being, the tiny baby was being looked after in the intensive care unit in another hospital in Khan Yunis to ensure her survival.

Just four days old, she was breathing through at an oxygen mask in the hospital's maternity ward.

- Joy pierced with grief -

Abdel Karim al-Bawab, head doctor at the maternity ward, said staff were keeping a close eye on the baby to monitor her condition.

"The child is in serious condition, and needs to be constantly hooked up to a breathing machine since she was oxygen-deprived between her mother's death and her birth," he told AFP.

"Her vital signs are stable, but she must stay here in this state for at least three more weeks," he said.

Qanan's eyes filled with tears.

"She had really been looking forward to being a mother," she said, her voice cracking.

"What did Shayma do to deserve to die and lie under rubble for an hour without being recovered?

"What did she do to Israel to make it destroy her house on top of her without any warning?" she asked.

"She was just a young wife who had only been married a year."

Relatives said F-16 warplanes had fired two missiles at the house which was located in a densely-populated neighbourhood.

Israel began a crushing military operation to stamp out rocket fire and destroy tunnels used by militants to infiltrate southern Israel on July 8.

In the ensuring three weeks, more than 1,050 Palestinians have been killed and over 6,200 wounded.

UN figures show more than three quarters of the victims were civilians, among them more than 230 children and around 120 women.

In Israel, at least 50 people have been killed, most of them Israeli soldiers killed in the fighting in Gaza.

12:41 AM - By Unknown 0

Violence in South Sudan

Children in South Sudan need your help. Please donate what you can today

12:11 AM - By Unknown 0

41 million children in Bangladesh live in poverty

DHAKA, 25 June 2014 - 41 million children in Bangladesh - about half of all Bangladeshi children - are living in poverty while about one in four children is deprived of at least four basic needs among the following: food, education, health, information, shelter, water and sanitation. These findings were presented today at the launch of the UNICEF Study on Child Poverty and Disparities in Bangladesh.

The document was launched by Dr. Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury, State Minister of Women and Children Affairs. Mr. Azizur Rahman, Chief Information Commissioner, Information Commission, Mr. Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, Secretary, External Resource Division, Ministry of Planning, Mr. Shaikh Altaf Ali, Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Carel de Rooy, UNICEF Representative, were also present at the event.

According to this new study, 64 per cent of children in Bangladesh are deprived of sanitation, 52 per cent are deprived of information, 57 per cent are deprived of nutrition, 41 per cent are deprived of shelter, 16 per cent are deprived of health, and 8 per cent are deprived of education. One key determinant of child poverty is the level of the mother’s education: the higher the mother’s level of education, the lower the chance for the child to be affected by deprivation. The mother’s education also has a mitigating impact on the severity of the child’s deprivations.

"Child poverty in Bangladesh remains a grave concern", said Carel de Rooy, UNICEF Representative. "The majority of the Millennium Development Goals and targets are related to children. Therefore, it is absolutely impossible to achieve MDGs without giving proper attention to children. Children need to be at the centre of national programmes that address poverty such as safety nets and social protection interventions."

UNICEF is proposing a shift in the definition of poverty - away from a narrow measurement that addresses income exclusively to a definition that includes income poverty, deprivation and well-being. The study focuses on the multidimensional aspects of child poverty looking at deprivation in seven areas: food, education, health, information, shelter, water and sanitation.

The report was presented by Professor Abul Barkat, lead consultant for the national study, which was conducted by the Human Development Research Centre. UNICEF initiated the study as part of a Global initiative involving 46 countries in seven regions, working closely with government and non-governmental organizations to pool expertise, knowledge and evidence on children.

In Bangladesh, technical oversight was provided by a working group involving 10 different Ministries and multisectoral partners led by the Planning Commission. 

11:57 PM - By Unknown 0