A father of seven children, Mohammed worries each day how he will feed his family. Injured, and permanently disabled, Mohammed is unable to walk on his own and hence, confined to a wheelchair. Completely dependent on aid with no source of income, the family has received food primarily fromUNRWA. With the recent cuts to funding of both UNRWA and USAID to Palestine, education, healthcare, shelter, and food support have worsened pushing families, like Mohammed’s, further to the edge.
The cutting of funding coupled with the blockade continues to be a source of deepening vulnerability for families across Gaza. Children are always the most vulnerable while heads of household do all within their means to provide food, mostly reducing diversity in their diets affecting the quality of nutrition.
“We usually sleep with our stomachs empty, giving our children what we have which is never enough,” said Mohammed’s wife Ayat. “I clean people’s houses to purchase some food which is limited. The children eat chips sometimes given by classmates.”
Mohammed and his family were recipients of the Ramadan Farmers Food distribution last year. “It was a very depressing time not knowing how I would feed my family during this holiest of months. I did not want to face my children,” said Mohammed.
Ayat was excited to learn they were receiving fresh food from the KinderUSA distribution. “I couldn’t believe that we would get the food basket. It calmed me down and cleared my mind”, she added. “It helped me preserve my dignity as I don’t have to work for my relatives this month. It made my husband happier and less depressed. For the first time in a long time we had joy in our home.” KinderUSA has completed field verification visits of our beneficiaries and ready to begin the first round of fresh vegetables, dairy, and live chickens for the Ramadan distribution. Sadly, the need is greater this year than the previous 17 Ramadan’s we have worked in Gaza. Our goal is to serve a minimum of 2500 families. With your generous donations, we can exceed that amount and carry beyond Ramadan. “It is staggering to think that in today’s age of robotics, thousands of children in Gaza go to sleep hungry, drink unsafe water, and live in a dangerous sanitation environment. We know we have a job to do and I am asking you to join us to bring food to as many children this Ramadan as we can,” Dr. Laila Al-Marayati, Chairperson KinderUSA.
Please consider making an online donation today of $50, $100, $250, or whatever you can to help expand our reach. Thank you.
