Only nine years old, Gaza-born Abdel Rahman has soulful brown eyes and a steady gaze.  His story is heart-breaking, but it is not unlike those of other Palestinian children living under extreme economic and psychological stress in Gaza.

Abdel Rahman was displaced from his family's home in the Izbet Abbed Rabbo area, north of Gaza City, as a result of the violence that began at the close of last year and continued into 2009.  Entire communities were devastated during the 22-day assault.  Abdel Rahman now lives with his parents and his five other siblings in one of the makeshift tent cities in Gaza, a legacy of the conflict that left long-established neighborhoods in ruins.

He is just one of the 56,000 children who are still homeless; innocent victims of the fighting. The lives of these children in the camps are extreme. They are displaced from familiar surroundings.  They have no access to clean drinking water, no toilets, no sewage disposal systems.  

One 9-Year-Old Child

Abdel Rahman is a case study about the suffering of Gaza's children.  After his family's home was destroyed during the conflict, he manifested signs of severe trauma and depression.  In his new "home" in a temporary camp in Gaza, Abdul Rahman refused to attend school.  He also would not play with friends, or participate in activities that non-governmental organizations (NGOs) coordinated. 

The trauma of the violence, and the abrupt dislocation of his family, left this young boy emotionally shattered, and arguably in a state of clinical depression.  The worst part of Abdul Rahman's story is that this 9-year-old refused to eat.  It was a critical situation.

Intervention

Kinder USA's bakery project in Gaza provided ready-to-eat pies - filled with meat, cheese, zatar, and vegetables - during and after the war in Gaza.  This project continues today with great need amongst the population.  Abdel Rahman's family is one of the beneficiaries of our initiative, funded by your generous donations.

Your contributions directly touched a 9-year-old boy in Gaza whose life was profoundly traumatized and dislocated during unrelenting violence that has left scars that can be treated, but rarely healed.  Under international humanitarian law, innocent children such as Abdel Rahman are entitled to protection in such conflicts yet he, and countless other children in Gaza, were not spared.

One Child At a Time

Kinder USA staff members in the field monitored Abdel Rahman closely.  At first, when food was delivered, he was unresponsive, and did not greet our staff members who arrived to deliver food to his family.   Our staff members were not discouraged.

With every delivery of fresh-baked pies, they sought out this reluctant 9-year-old boy, and tried to engage him in conversation.  Abdel Raham finally opened up. His words poured out.  He was frightened. He reflected on the suffering that he and his family endured during the conflict and told Kinder USA representatives that he did not want to spend the rest of his life with his family in an internally displaced tent camp.  Citing his family's poverty, he voiced his own fear that they would never be able to build another house to replace their home that was demolished during the conflict. And at 9 years old, Abdel Rahman was cynical about the prospects of international support to help his parents rebuild the family's former home in Gaza.

Even if this happened, and the house was rebuilt, he asked this important question: "Who will stop our home from being demolished again?"

The positive part of this story is that Abel Rahman started to eat again, an indicator that he was successfully moving beyond the ongoing psychological and emotional stress of dealing with his family's experience of living through violence and homelessness.  In his tent camp, he finally began to wait for, and welcome, Kinder USA representatives who arrived with fresh baked pies.  He looks forward to talking with them, and now with a hearty appetite eats the food that your donations provide.

Your Continued Support

During a recent winter storm, camp residents were advised to seek shelter elsewhere because the families' tents were being blown away by strong winds and rain.  Abdel Rahman, speaking for his family, said that they would not leave the tent city. Smiling, he said that he was waiting for the next arrival of food from Kinder USA.

With your help, this thoughtful, reflective 9-year-old from Gaza will survive, and thrive.

Please continue to support this project by making an online tax-deductible donation today choosing 'Gaza ER' from the drop down menu in the donation folder.  Reversing the pain these innocent children have endured is everyone's responsibility.  Thank you.

An already paralyzed society, the recent aggression in Gaza have resulted in a profound deterioration of living conditions for children and their families and further erosion of the food supply that continues to be prevented from reaching civilians. Thousands of Palestinians in Gaza remain homeless after their houses were badly damaged or destroyed during the recent violence. 

Over 56,000 children remain displaced along with their families, taking shelter in hastily erected tent cities or crowding into structures that remain standing after the devastation of entire regions. It has been estimated that over 280,000 children were forced from their homes during the conflict with families setting up ‘tent cities’ where whole neighborhoods once stood.  Many of the families reside in these canvas structures without access to clean drinking water or toilets and no protection from the low temperatures at night. 

Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota visiting a collapsed home in Gaza where a family with five children once lived stated, "I have an image of a woman sitting in the rubble of her home burned in my head, all that remains is a lean-to."

The UN has reported that at least 4,000 homes were destroyed and about 17,000 badly damaged with 50,000 residents taking up shelter in UNRWA facilities during the height of the conflict and tens of thousands more moving in with family and friends.  Parents have few options if their homes have been destroyed and face insurmountable daily challenges caring for their children under these conditions.

UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, John Holmes recently stated: "The destruction I saw was devastating – both in human and material terms. The magnitude of loss of life and injury to the civilian population is bound to have a lasting impact on the mental and physical wellbeing of the Palestinians in Gaza. All aspects of life and livelihood have been affected."

Food insecurity in Gaza was already catastrophic with more than two-thirds of children suffering from vitamin A deficiency and almost half of the children under two anemic.  The World Food Program in Gaza is reporting that due to the recent conflict “chicken and meat are now very costly or unavailable while fresh fruit and vegetables will be unavailable by May due to destroyed crops.” UNDP reports that “about 10% of the total [chicken] production – were killed during the war.”

Kinder USA is continuing its work feeding families who have lost their homes and have no means of cooking.  We are distributing prepared meals for pregnant women , providing vegetable/cheese/zatar pies to children in UNRWA schools as well as to families in tent cities through our bakery project.  Going forward, we are working towards developing teams for child psychosocial intervention as well as implementing mother and child primary health care and nutrition intervention in Gaza. 

Kinder USA will continue to update you of our work with your generous donations. The most basic necessities of life that we take for granted are beyond the reach of these children today and it remains an outrage that any child should go without food and shelter.  All of us at Kinder USA recognize our work is impossible without your continued generosity and ask that you please keep these innocent beings in your thoughts and prayers.