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"My mother holds me tight as if it is the last time she will ever see me"

A personal account an aid worker inside Gaza

10 February 2009

Hatem Shurrab Islamic Relief has been working in Gaza for 10 years. The aid agency's work stepped up a gear during the recent bombardment of Gaza. Since December 27, Islamic Relief has spent $6 million supporting health clinics and helping poor families survive. DFID’s recent grant of £661,000 will help the aid agency continue its vital work.

Here, Islamic Relief aid worker Hatem Shurrab speaks about life in Gaza.

Whenever I leave my house, my mother holds me tight as she hugs me as if it is the last time she will ever see me.

Currently, it is easier for us to move around and do our work because there is no bombardment going on.

There is lots of aid coming into Gaza through the health NGOs and Islamic Relief has done lots of work to support the hospitals by providing equipment. IR has provided incubators, equipment for hospital theatre rooms and ambulances to hospitals.

Of course there are still big gaps. It’s not surprising. We have had 18 months of closure before the war, which resulted in a huge amount of shortages.

As well as helping the hospitals, we have been doing lots of other things to help the poorest families survive.

We have been providing basic essentials like food parcels, hygiene kits, and blankets, to families for some time and that has been a real lifeline throughout this crisis. We have started a Family Sponsorship Project, and, in addition to food, we will also provide hundreds of the poorest families with proper healthcare and other things like fully-equipped school bags for children.

We will also help people by renovating their homes. So many homes have been damaged but the shortage of construction materials is a real challenge.

Yesterday, when we were distributing food, kitchen utensils, blankets and hygiene kits in the north, I met a father who told me the story of how he had lost his home. It has been totally destroyed. Like so many, he has nothing left.

He is a father of 15 and used to run a mini supermarket. He and his family lived over the shop. It was the sole source of the family’s income. Now, he and the family are staying with friends, relatives and neighbours. He stays a couple of nights in one place and then moves onto the next because he doesn’t want to be a burden on his friends and family.

He has been given a tent which he stays in sometimes but it is very cold at night here. It is winter. How can he survive?

At Islamic Relief we will do all we can to help those who have lost their livelihoods get back on their feet.

"My mother holds me tight as if it is the last time she will ever see me"

A personal account an aid worker inside Gaza

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