Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility
4 nov 2014

Beyond words: Day three in Gaza
by Gerri Haynes

Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility has traveled to Gaza since 1993. Since 2009, following the Cast Lead invasion by Israel, WPSR has sponsored eight medical delegations to serve the besieged, imprisoned and war-torn people of Gaza.

In my language I know of no word or words sufficient to describe the scenes we saw today as we drove through the Sujayea area of Gaza. Around us, thousands of bombed-out wreckages of homes; before us, the shattered remains of the Al Wafa rehabilitation hospital. Imagining the families whose lives were forever changed in those brief moments of summer 2104, and then watching as family members now walked between the shards of their homes will remain with me forever.

One family, whose home was spared so that Israeli soldiers could claim it and live there for a time of occupation, has returned to repair the damage done by the soldiers to the inside of their home and to begin replanting their garden. Some families who have nowhere else to go occupy the shells of homes. These homes are statistically referred to as “partially destroyed” – even when the front of the home is missing and residence is claimed in rooms with only three sides.

In the rubble, fragments of toys, furniture, cookware, linens – the common stuff of life – provide startling reminders of a community. Why was this destruction deemed necessary? Who lives with the responsibility for this decision in their heart?

People who were living their lives, already struggling under siege, experienced the death of family members and now grieve loved ones, their homes and their community.

Earlier today, we had watched a community in action. We traveled with staff of the Palestinian Medical Relief Service to a remote area home where the homeowners had agreed to shelter a mobile clinic. A long line led from one of the rooms in the home – now designated as an exam and treatment area for the services provided by PMRS staff.

Physicians, nurses, physical therapists and other health care professionals make up the PMRS mobile clinic teams that go into areas where poverty makes it difficult for people to travel to central medical care. There are four such teams in Gaza and they see patients in these home (mobile) clinics each day.

We visited a home where the PMRS dressing team was caring for a bedridden woman. This woman’s legs were broken and burned by a war blast in August – a blast that killed her eight-year-old daughter as they walked through a market. For a time, the woman had been cared for in a Jerusalem hospital. When she was returned to her home, the PMRS team assumed responsibility for her daily care – she is healing well while she also grieves.

PMRS served Gaza in an expanded group of ten mobile clinics during the 51 days of attacks – braving travel that proved lethal for some medical workers in Gaza.

Everywhere we go in Gaza, as in previous visits, we meet courageous people who are intent on making life better for Gaza. This morning, we visited the Al Amal Cochlear Implant Center. Al Amal functions in two buildings. One is a rehabilitation center for helping children utilize their implants. Here, the classes are small and speech therapists work with groups of children to help them fully utilize the implants. The second facility is a school where students with implants are successfully integrated into classrooms with non-hearing impaired students.

Al Amal claims the highest honors for their work. Many of the children they serve are hearing impaired due to war injuries. Cochlear implant equipment is expensive and the waiting list for service at the Center is long.

Throughout Gaza, many healthcare workers and support people are working without salaries. The trauma of war, poverty, the siege, and environmental destruction challenges every citizen.

At dinner tonight, we met with Dr. Muhammad Al Kashif, Director General of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Health. As he reviewed the challenges to life and medical care here, we expressed our gratitude to him for welcoming us to Gaza. His generous work with staff from the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme has made it possible for our teams to work in Gaza.