By Josie Shields-Stromsness | MECA Program Director
You may have seen some of the recent headlines about the worsening water crisis in Gaza as Israel bombs civilian infrastructure including water networks. We wanted to share with you how your support for the Maia Project is making a concrete difference for families in Gaza during this terrible time.
More than 200,000 people in Gaza are currently living in emergency shelters after their homes were destroyed or their neighborhoods became too dangerous. Many of these shelters are UN schools were MECA has installed water purification and desalination units.
MECA Project Director in Gaza wrote:
"When I think about these families sleeping in the schools it makes me really sad. Just a few weeks ago, MECA was planning to support summer camps for children in the UN schools and our water purification and desalination units were going to serve the summer camps. But now, more than one hundred thousand people are living in these UN schools with their families. With the water crisis worsening under the bombing, I’m so glad that in 16 of the schools, our water units are providing clean water for the families."
Safaa El-Derawi, an environmental engineer working as MECA's project assistant in Gaza, has been in touch with each school where we have a water unit to make sure the units are working properly and providing safe, clean water to families. Here is a list of UN schools sheltering families in Gaza provided to Safaa last week. The number of displaced families and schools where Maia Project units has increased since then but Safaa hasn't been able send us the updated list as it is too dangerous for her to go to the office and she has very irregular internet and electricity from home.
We also wanted to mention that we have set up a special page on Global Giving to collect funds for emergency relief in Gaza. Our team is distributing food, milk, and hygiene kits to displaced families. And we are providing funds for hospitals and clinics throughout Gaza to purchase vital medicine to treat the injured and sick. There are now more than 6000 people injured in Gaza by Israel's assault, 1/3 of them children according to the latest UN figures, and hospitals are running short of supplies. Additionally with the overcrowding in emergency shelters, the sanitation is poor and is causing diarrhea in children and the spread of other diseases. Please consider a donation to our emergency relief fund: http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/emergency-aid-for-children-in-gaza/
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