Education Palestine Project #18427

Brighten the Future of Gaza's Children

by Rebuilding Alliance

Project Report | Nov 21, 2018
Giving Thanks: 8,600 Little Sun solar lights to cross Thursday to Gaza's children!

By Donna Baranski-Walker | Founder & Executive Director, Rebuilding Alliance

I brought suitcases full to test LittleSun in Gaza

Dear Friend,

Great news: 8,600 lights in 4 pallets are set to arrive in Gaza this Thursday! If all goes well the lights will cross from the Israeli side (Karem Shalom) to the Palestinian side (Karem Abu Salam) and be trucked to our NGO partners for distribution on Sunday to children in need in Gaza. An international TV crew might be filming this with us too.

With this sixth shipment, Rebuilding Alliance will have so far shipped a total of 35,600 solar lights through the blockade to Gaza's children! Each shipment has a long journey and this is no exception.

Everyone asks how this is possible: How can they transit the blockade? How will they reach the children in need?

We applied for Custom's preclearance in June. As usual, Palestinian Customs awarded pre-clearance approval immediately but it rather got lost on the Israeli side. Once found, the shipment was pre-cleared by the Israeli Army on Sep. 4th, and the papers returned by Israeli Customs two weeks later.
Our 8600 solar lights were shipped out of Hamburg, Germany a few weeks ago - see the smiling fork lift drivers in the video =). Last Friday, they arrived at the Port of Ashdod, Israel. With pre-clearance it took just three working days to get the lights through Israel customs into a warehouse near Karam Shalom where they wait for Palestinian acceptance, now on behalf of the Palestinian Authority instead of the Gaza Government. That should happen today, Wednesday, for transit tomorrow, Thursday.

Why Little Suns instead of Luci Lights?

There's a wonderful back-story about a mom whose son was so excited to receive a LittleSun, and her friendship with another mom in Gaza. She said, "He was the happiest kid in the world! And on that day the newspaper headlines reported on the electricity crisis in Gaza - I had to find a way to send them there too, and so I found Rebuilding Alliance." I look forward to telling that story in full someday soon.

We upgraded to send Little Suns, because this green and very efficient solar light needs 5 hours of sun to give 50 hours of light. Created by the Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson and engineer Frederik Ottesen, Little Sun B Corp is headquartered in Berlin, Germany. They formed Little Sun as a public benefit B Corporation to sell these solar lights as a commodity around the world, and also created the Little Sun Foundation, which brings Little Suns to children who live in off-grid areas, mostly in Africa. What I really liked is that in five years when the battery fails, one can change it instead of losing the unit - and also, the Bloomberg Foundation provided a 1:1 matching grant! This will be the first time that Little Suns are being shipped to Gaza.

The other big question: will they still need solar lights? YES, they will.

At the end of October, the electricity in Gaza returned to 10-12 hours on, each day. Neveen, our coordinator in Gaza City, called it, "Glorious and truly wonderful!" Yesterday, on our conference call Kareem, our coordinator in Rafah, was in darkness again and noted, "But there are still many hours in the night without electricity. Also, here in Gaza, we don't know if the ceasefire will hold - we can be thrown into total darkness at any time. Please, our Brighten the future of Gaza's Children program must continue."

Due to a remarkable permit, I visited Gaza three times in the past six months bringing LittleSun and Luci lights in my suitcases. Our team took me to the homes of families in great need to meet them and hear their stories - families that barely have a light bulb. Even if the power comes on, the LittleSuns will make life easier. These are Nur al Amal, lights of hope.

Thank you again for making this project possible. Please mark your calendar for Giving Tuesday Nov. 29th when GlobalGiving will be matching all donations all day starting at midnight until 11:50pm Eastern time!

Sincerely,

Donna

P.S. Here's a short history of the 11 years of power outages in Gaza:

Soon after Israel imposed the blockade of Gaza eleven years ago, the electricity supply in Gaza fell to 12 hours a day. As more people lost their jobs and were unable to pay their bills, electricity fell to just 3-4 hours per day. According to UNOCHA, “On 8 April, 2016 the Gaza Power Plant (GPP) was forced to shut down completely after exhausting its fuel reserves and being unable to replenish them due to a shortage of funds. This triggered electricity blackouts of 18-20 hours per day, up from 12 hours previously, further undermining the delivery of basic services.”
According the Israeli human rights group, B'Tselem, in the early morning hours of 28 June 2006, following the abduction of Cpl. Gilad Shalit, the Israeli Air Force attacked the only electrical power plant operating in the Gaza Strip, destroying all transformers. It would take a very long time before it was repaired, only to be partially destroyed by Israel again and again during the invasions in 2008, 2009, and 2014. It took a long time for repair.
Now, the system is restored to 10-12 hours per day because the ceasefire, negotiated by Nikolay Mladenov, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, is holding. The Government of Qatar is sending fuel to run the power plant and Israel's Army (specifically COGAT) is allowing it in. We hope this will help put people back to work at long last.
Our Brighten the Future project, and the energy independence it provides, is still deeply needed.

P.P.S. I want to say that I see our shipments as a small miracle. We’re dealing with four dysfunctional governments - the only thing that matters is gentle, painstaking, constant persistence. Long ago, when Craig Corrie and I first went to talk to the State Department about Gaza, I wondered how on earth to proceed. Craig, who was a founding board member of Rebuilding Alliance, said, “Always go in with the intention of giving the official the opportunity to help” … later, another founding board member, Ghassan Abdullah, noted, “Too they need so many opportunities!”

Happy Thanksgiving!

Helping with basic needs

A way to finish homework

Little Sun: a child's only light on a dark street

Links:

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Aug 7, 2018
Let there be Light!

By Rami Balah | Business Development Program Manager

Aug. 1st, Rafah: Reading Party at the WPC library

I know we said these solar lights will brighten the future - I want you to see that they make things brighter now too! Kareem, our Rafah Coordinator (look carefully and you'll see him in the photos) said, "The librarian called and she had a wonderful idea. That reading circle was really fun!"

There are so many ways that these little solar lights help, and none of them would be possible without you. This project began in response to an electricity blackout, night and day for eleven years. The power is on for four hours, then off for sixteen, daily. Whenever there is power, families must scramble to charge phones, wash clothes, or even watch TV — and that rotation, those few hours can happen mid-day or mid-night.

When there is no electricity at night, people in Gaza turn to candles and kerosene lamps and this is dangerous. Gaza continues to experience fires caused by candles gone wrong that even took the lives of many innocent children and left survivers with severe burns.

I know a lot about life in Gaza because I’m in touch with my family there nearly every day (sometimes more than once a day as my little brother will soon be getting married). I recently finished my MBA and joined Rebuilding Alliance because I want to build our Brighten the Future giving program into a program that will reach big goals for energy independence in Gaza. The first step I hope to accomplish is delivering a Little Sun, solar-powered, lamp to every child in Gaza — that's about 750,000 lamps! We also want to ramp-up to provide loans or stipends to help families install SunBox solar energy systems in homes and offices. SunBox is an exciting new system designed by young woman entrepreneur who lives in Gaza City.

This is huge — and it is still important to note what’s most important: these solar-powered lanterns are especially beneficial for children. Schools in Gaza are scheduled to open on August 27th. With solar lights, children will be able to complete their homework and study, without having to worry about the moon getting in the way. Little ones will have a night light.

Yes, we’re proudly upgrading the models we’re shipping:

We're working with Little Sun from Germany to bring the highest quality lamps to children in Gaza! This is an upgrade because you can change the battery. Donna, our Executive Director, was able to visit Gaza twice in the last few months and she took large suitcases filled with them each time to high approval.
Something new! SunBox home energy systems can light the whole house, charge a cellphone or computer, and run a small refrigerator or the TV.

We've sent 27,000 LuciLights lights so far. I am happy to report that the pre-clearance process for this next shipment is underway - the Palestinian Customs Office gave their approval to send 8,600 Little Suns for distribution by our four Palestinian NGO partners in Gaza. Now, all we are waiting for is for the Israeli Customs Office to reply. I’m told that this process can take anywhere from three weeks to five months,so Rebuilding Alliance is asking our Congresswoman and our Senators for help to push the Customs office to sign-off.

Did you know that each Little Sun lamp we buy is being matched 1:1 for another Little Sun in a program by the Bloomberg Foundation? This means that for every $40 you give, we'll send three Little Sun solar lights to children in Gaza. If you would like us to send you a light for your window in solidarity, please send us an email with your address and we'll put one in the mail to you.

Good news: GlobalGiving’s International Youth Week Campaign is starting Monday, Aug. 6th! New recurring donations made during Youth Week will be matched!

Recurring donations up to $200 per donor per project started during Youth Week will have the initial donation matched at 100% so as long you keep this active for at least four payments. The project with the most unique donors will receive a $2500 bonus. Let’s do this!August 12^th is UN-recognized International Youth Day and Youth Week end that night at midnight EDT.

Please give any time btw Aug 6th and Aug12th — and then share with all your friends because this is something so good, that everyone can get behind it.

___________________________________

Oh! One more thing: the wonderful Mrs. Najah Ajash, the founder of the Women's Program Center- Rafah is in Turkey for an arts fair, and she has a visa for the U.S. The WPC-R is one of Rebuilding Allianc's partners in Gaza. If you or your group would like to have her come speak, call me at 650 651-7165 and let's make it happen!

The librarian's wonderful idea: a reading party!

Stories and friends -solar Luci Lights made it so!

A great way to enjoy the summer in Rafah!

The Women's Program Center-Rafah is RA's partner

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Apr 5, 2018
You've got to see this!

By Donna Baranski-Walker | Founder & Executive Director, Rebuilding Alliance

"Our biggest dreams have turned into basic needs."

Dear Friend,

Yesterday was the launch of our Nur al-Amal message from families in Gaza to the world. We're asking groups of seven families in Gaza to put a light and a sign with their message outside from 7-8pm every Wednesday.

Will you join with any seven neighbors or friends on your street every Wednesday 7-8pm in reply? To see more photos of our Nur al-Amal lights illuminating the dark streets in Gaza, click the link below!

Last week, we brought young writers from We Are Not Numbers to interview two of the seven families. Rebuilding Alliance staff member Kareem Nasrallah joined them and sent me a list of the words that the families chose to put on the signs they placed outside their homes, in English and Arabic:

Our biggest dreams have turned into basic needs.

Give us light, give us hope!

We don't have a fridge, but that's okay. Because we don't have power in Gaza anyway.

My only wish is to get my daughter a travel permit for treatment outside.

We hope, therefore we exist.

Electricity went out. Life stopped. .

The Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy filmed and they will launch a new video on Friday April 20th. We'll be doing our best to use social media and our network here in the US to respond with Nur al-Amal messages in reply. We hope to bring AFP and other media to those first seven Rafah families next week.

There's now a matching grant for each Little Sun light from the Bloomberg Foundation! That means, for every $40 you give, we'll send three Little Sun solar lights to children in Gaza. If you would like us to send you a light for your window, after you give, please send us an email with your address and we'll put one in the mail to you. We've sent 27,000 Nur al-Amal lights so far.

Also, please mark your calendar. Next week, from Monday to Friday, GlobalGIving is launching their Little by Little Campaign.

GlobalGiving will match all donations up to $50, by 50%
Also, GG will provide a 100% match for new recurring donations started during the Little by Little Campaign week!

Thank you for your support of this important project! Join us with a light in your window, every Wednesday, and on Facebook, It's Time for Light. When you set up your light, make sure it is clearly visible from the street so that people can see it.

Once you've set up your light, take a picture and post it to Facebook and Instagram with the caption "We shine the light to brighten the future of Gaza's families," and use #ItsTimeForLight. Feel free to also tag @RebuildingAlliance. Once your posts are up, we will share them on the Rebuilding Alliance social accounts.

Sincerely,

Donna

P.S. We'll do all we can to connect the little girl and her family with the medical care, and operation, that she needs.

"We hope, therefore we are."

"Give us light, give us hope!"

"Did you hear my story?"

Families illuminate their street with Nur al-Amal

Links:

Nur al-Amal: From Gaza's families to the world

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