Real Heroes of Humanitarian Work in Gaza
The following stories are stories of real heroes who deserve our admiration and celebration. They are heroes who choose to provide assistance during difficult conditions and show extraordinary abilities to persevere despite challenges and difficulties.
Shahinda Shawkat
Shahinda Shawkat (24 years old) is a young activist who lives in the Rafah area in the southern Gaza Strip. Shahinda holds a bachelor's degree in Arabic and a diploma in human development. Shahinda volunteers in several institutions and community centers, including the Wefaq Association for the Care of Women and Children, and a member of the Protection and Accountability Committee in Rafah Municipality.
Shahinda worked during COVID-19 in the field of raising community awareness about means of prevention and safety, distributing masks and sterilizers, and identifying the neediest groups.
Shahinda says: “the humanitarian voluntary work deepened my understanding for different issues and the general context and allowed me to touch the needs of society and how to deal with psychological pressures, and my work with women helped me to understand the different needs of society, especially women. It also helped me to feel with others and enhance my leadership skills, self-confidence and ability to deal with all groups ".
Shahinda talks about the needs of women in emergencies: “women need safety in case of emergency, as they are the first groups exposed to harm and pressure in times of war. Women have been affected by COVID-19 and the economic situation because they are the backbone of the family who bear all the family responsibilities."
Like other young women, Shahinda was affected by the war, which encouraged her to volunteer and provide psychological support to women. Shahinda believes that humanitarian work is beneficial to society: "Voluntary humanitarian work contributes to raising awareness of society and targeted groups, build trust between youth and society, and spread civil peace in society”.
Mohammad Al-Mudallal
Mohmmad (27 years old) is a young community activist from Rafah in the Gaza Strip. Mohammad is a member of a protection committee with the Wefaq Center, and he is a member of the response committees. At the beginning of the pandemic, Mohammad joined many community institutions and joined the emergency committee in Rafah to contribute to responding to the needs of needy families. Mohammad worked on distributing food and health parcels to poor families and identifying societal needs. Mohammad also contributed to organizing awareness campaigns on social media to raise community awareness about methods of prevention and protection from COVID-19.
With the start of the National Vaccine Program in the Gaza Strip, Mohammed used his influence on social media to raise community awareness about the importance of vaccination. He has produced many videos and informational materials about the importance of receiving the vaccine.
Mohammad implemented some humanitarian community initiatives, such as creating and designing pathways for people with special needs, and the initiative to combat gender-based violence, an initiative aimed at educating men and women in the Rafah area.
Mohammad talks about the impact of these humanitarian volunteer works on his personality: “it increased my sense of social responsibility, and I gained many skills. These works introduced me to the community, increased my self-confidence, and helped me take the initiative”.
He continued: “I received emergency response trainings from AAP, as these trainings increased my knowledge about community needs and made me able to deal with different institutions”.
Mohammad describes the impact of humanitarian work during war and during a state of emergency, saying: “It relieves stresses and decreases loads beard by duty- bearers, saves many lives, and helps many families. We promoted voluntary humanitarian work among many young people, and we worked on introducing young people to many civil society institutions to lead humanitarian voluntary work”.
Mohammad says, "voluntary humanitarian work has affected my experience and work. It makes me creative and helped me to develop reports, and search for alternatives for assisting my community."
Muhammad talks about the impact of war: “the war always changes the realities. The war has affected our psychological situation, which worsens, especially when we lose loved ones. The war has increased the economic burden and the loss of many livelihoods, but despite these difficulties, we are armed with hope and try to rebuild society and build ourselves and help people.
Husam Madi
Hussam Madi (32 years) is a youth activist living in the city of Rafah. Hussam worked as a volunteer in providing psychological counseling and educating children during COVID-19 and introducing them to prevention and safety measures of COVID-19 through the Palestinian Red Crescent Society and AAP’s partner- Wefaq association.
Hussam was affected by the war by having feelings of fear, anxiety, insecurity and worries about family and loss of life.
Hussam volunteered during the Israeli escalation in May 2021 in shelters, especially in serving people with disabilities and providing first aid. He also worked with the Rafah Municipality to prepare a field hospital for patients infected with COVID-19.
Hussam talks about the impact of voluntary humanitarian work on his personality: "humanitarian voluntary work gives people a sense of security and helps me to build new friendships and get introduced to new community organizations."
For Hussam, humanitarian work is useful to the community: "it helps the community to highlight the role of youth through their simple initiatives they lead shedding the light on some problems. Humanitarian work also raises the voice of youth to the government and decision-makers, enhance community resilience and meet the needs of groups that the government does not reach.
Hisham Al-Najjar
Hisham Al-Najjar (27 years old) is a young activist from the Khuza'a area in Khan Yunis in Gaza Strip. He holds a bachelor's degree in architecture. Hisham lived the wars that were launched against Gaza Strip, during which he was forced to flee and leave his home. Hisham holds a diploma in disaster and crisis management.
Hisham joined an emergency team for several youth centers, where they worked to provide emergency trainings for dealing with COVID-19 cases and providing food and health aid, sterilizing the streets and helping the municipality. He also provided awareness sessions to the community about measure of safety against COVID-19. Hisham Communicated with religion figures to urge them to play a role in raising awareness of community in issues related to COVID-19.
With the start of the vaccine, Hisham participated in encouraging is the elderly to take the vaccine. Hisham believes that humanitarian work is necessary
Humanitarian work is necessary: "humanitarian voluntary work has increased people's respect to me and my knowledge about organizational work. It also identifies the needs of people and society. Humanitarian voluntary work also contributes to developing the community. The participation of young people in voluntary work in Khuza'ah town made many improvements Khuza’ah’s infrastructure through young people's communication with international institutions and informing them about the reality and conditions of their town”.
Hisham was affected by COVID-19: “the pandemic has greatly deteriorated the economic situation. The pandemic has increased the fragility of society, especially the groups that did not enjoy social protection systems.”
Hisham volunteered during the pandemic to communicate with health organizations and the Ministry of Health to provide health care for some families and help families in quarantine centers.
Hisham believes that humanitarian voluntary work is important during disasters and epidemics: “it is a holy work that touches and enhances the positive spirit and makes a person a known and beloved person who is trusted by society and a way to gain trust and knowledge, as well as an opportunity and a path to the labor market.”
Iman Abu Shabab
Iman (29 years old) is a young woman who lives in Al-Nasr neighborhood, east of Rafah in Gaza Strip. Iman lives in a border area affected by wars lunched against Gaza Strip. During each war, Iman and her family are forced to leave their home. DuringCOVID-19, Iman worked to raise awareness of her community about social distance and mask-wearing procedures. Iman also works with women to identify their needs and encourage women in remote areas to take the vaccination.
Iman had a prominent role during the military wars against Gaza Strip. Iman worked to provide relief sessions and psychological support for children and women to relieve anxiety and fear caused by the war through Wefaq Association’s free line . Iman says: “the humanitarian voluntary breaks barriers, strengthens personality, overcomes fear and enables us to express ourselves. I have become recognized in the society”.
Iman continued: "volunteering strengthens my personality, breaks barriers and introduced me to my area and built trust between me and the public, and I became a responsible and decision-maker. Voluntary humanitarian work helps the community to claim its rights and involves young people in developing infrastructure of their town. It also helps civil society institutions to play their role and provide services to people.
Iman suffers from the effects of the war on the Gaza Strip, as her feelings of insecurity, instability, fear and anticipation of war at any time. The war has increased her anxiety about her family and country and diminished her hopes.
Iman sends a message to the world about the need to secure security and peace for the Palestinian people and stop targeting civilians and provide protection according to international law. The challenges facing the youth in the Gaza Strip include the lack of opportunities and work, the obstruction of the horizon and the deterioration of economic situation.
Abed Al-Rahim Dahdooh
Abdul-Rahim (26 years) is a youth activist from Tal al-Hawa who was affected by the war as a result of the bombing of houses, as his house was bombed, and car was targeted. Abdul Rahim recalls,: “there is no clarity regarding the reconstruction. Some jobs were terminated and livelihoods were lost and even my car which was my only source of income was bombed and properties were damaged”.
Abdul Rahim implemented some awareness campaigns during COVID-19 pandemic as prevention means. Abdeul Rahim believes that the COVID-19 has greatly impacted Gaza similarly to impact of blockade imposed on Gaza which hinders the development, progress and provision of services.
During the war: “we helped some families and organized voluntary campaigns. We communicated with families who could not leave their homes. We tried to send some appeals and raised their voices to the duty bearers to find an alternative housing for them and participated in cleaning campaigns to remove rubble within the group of Lejan “we will reconstruct Gaza”.
Abdul Rahim provided psychological support and psychological relief for children and families in the areas that were bombed. With the start of the vaccination program, Abdul Rahim worked on designing, writing content and preparing videos to motivate people to receive the vaccine.
Abdul Rahim believes that humanitarian voluntary work is very important in enhancing his skills and capabilities through the initiatives he led. It enhanced his self-confidence and allowed him to form new relationships with community members. Voluntary work also enhances social responsibility among people, the rights of society, and contributes to raising community awareness and service, strengthening resilience and community cohesion, and reaching the most marginalized groups.
Background Information
ActionAid in Palestine (AAP) is a part of global federation working for social justice and gender equality and eradicate poverty in more than 45 countries around the world. AAP started its work in Palestine in 2007 to strengthen the resilience of Palestinian People as ActionAid believes that they should enjoy their rights to freedom, justice and self-determination. AAP implements a number of programs through its engagement with communities and women and youth groups seeking to empower them and enhance their influential civil and political participation to understand their rights and undertake collective activism to address the protracted rights violations resulting from the prolonged occupation of Palestine. AAP works simultaneously to enhance their leadership capacity and knowledge to practice their citizenship in holding authorities and other duty bearers to account.
For more information, please contact
Riham Jafari
Coordinator of Advocacy and Communication in Palestine
Mobile:
+972 (0) 595242890
Office:
+972 (0) (2) 22 13 137
Email:
.