Poor Families in Focus<\/em><\/a><\/strong>, is based on a study carried out in partnership with local development associations, women\u2019s groups and farmers\u2019 co-operatives. Involving 3,342 families identified as living below the poverty line, the report identifies some of those who are most in need, and how best to work with them to help lift them out of poverty.<\/p>\n\u201cThe destruction and bloodshed caused by conflict have contributed significantly to psychological problems in Gaza,\u201d says Muneeb Abu Ghazaleh, Islamic Relief\u2019s country director in the territory. \u201cBut the constant pressure felt by poor families due to unemployment and poverty is also having a massive impact on people\u2019s psychological health and family relationships.<\/p>\n
\u201cChildren and mothers, in particular, bear the brunt of fathers\u2019 psychological problems due to their feelings of hopelessness and helplessness. Many have lived through the destruction of their homes and businesses more than once.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the people interviewed is Fadi, once the breadwinner of a family who is now suffering from deep depression. His wife is now taking care of him and their children. His ten-year-old son comes home from school, finishes his homework and then runs to the vegetable market to work for the rest of the day. He earns between 70p and \u00a31.50 \u2013 enough just to buy bread for the family.<\/p>\n
Forced into debt to meet basic needs<\/strong><\/p>\nThe report found that 92% of the households interviewed had been forced into debt just to meet basic needs, such as food, shelter and education, while 69% had no jobs. It also found that almost half of the people interviewed were suffering from psychological problems and chronic diseases, such as hypertension, asthma and heart disease.<\/p>\n
Many of these chronic diseases are caused or exacerbated by dangerous and unhealthy living conditions. Almost half of the households interviewed live in \u2019bad\u2019 or \u2019extremely bad\u2019 housing conditions. This includes, for example, having a roof that doesn\u2019t protect them from the rain, wind and hot sun, or one that contains asbestos.<\/p>\n
Eighty-nine per cent of the households interviewed relied on water supplied by the public authorities that is often unfit for human consumption and heavily contaminated with salt. Many cannot afford safe drinking water that, for a family of five, costs \u00a38 per month.<\/p>\n
A choice between unsafe water and going without<\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cIt\u2019s often a case of drinking unsafe water or going without for days on end \u2013 and this creates enormous health problems,\u201d explains Muneeb.<\/p>\n
A quarter of the households interviewed had very poor sanitary facilities, with 274 dependent on cesspits outside their homes.<\/p>\n
When asked to list their priorities in order to alleviate their poverty, 47.7% of those interviewed cited improved housing and 44.3% said activities to help them earn a living.<\/p>\n
Islamic Relief is now working with this information to make sure it continues to reach the poorest of the poor and to fine tune its work addressing poverty in Gaza.<\/p>\n
International community must challenge blockade<\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cLocal organisations and even bigger international aid agencies like Islamic Relief can only do so much,\u201d says Muneeb. \u201cWe need the international community to do more to challenge the the blockade of Gaza.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe international community collaborates on the Sustainable Development Goals to reduce poverty around the world, looking at indicators such as health, education, food, water and sanitation. But in Gaza we are going in the wrong direction for all of these areas.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat kind of future are we creating for our children?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI would dearly love to sell my own son\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\nAtef lives with his wife and seven children in a damp-ridden 50m-square \u2018house\u2019 with a dilapidated ceiling and a kitchen that doubles up as a bathroom in Rafah City in the south of Gaza. Interviewers were shocked to hear him say how he would dearly love to sell his own son.<\/p>\n
He lost his job as a builder due to spinal problems and cannot find a job as an electrician, even though he has the right skills.<\/p>\n
His wife is ill with glandular problems for which she has to conduct monthly laboratory tests costing 1000 New Israeli Shekel (\u00a3220). With eyes full of tears, he explained: \u201cI haven\u2019t got a penny to pay for the taxi to the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n
His older children cannot find work and he can\u2019t afford the school fees for the younger ones.<\/p>\n
With a voice full of pain he explained: \u201cI thought that if I sell my youngest child to one of the rich families here I could afford the school fees for the other children.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is what we see every day in Gaza,\u201d continues Muneeb. \u201cPeople who are full of courage and energy to work with dignity, but faced with every obstacle that you can think of and children who are not even given a basic chance in life.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe owe it to our children to work to overcome this poverty at every single level.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12190,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0},"categories":[107,73],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/irpal.ps\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/6T0A1943.jpg?fit=5760%2C3840&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/irpal.ps\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12189"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/irpal.ps\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/irpal.ps\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irpal.ps\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irpal.ps\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12189"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/irpal.ps\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12189\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12191,"href":"https:\/\/irpal.ps\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12189\/revisions\/12191"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irpal.ps\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/irpal.ps\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irpal.ps\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irpal.ps\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}