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Supporting the children of Gaza to not just recover from the war, but to try to enjoy a ‘normal’ childhood, has been Islamic Relief’s recent main area of concern. The war and ongoing blockade of Gaza has had a severe impact, particularly on children, who suffer from trauma, malnutrition and general lack of basic services.
Islamic Relief has been providing psychosocial care for traumatised children in Gaza since the late 1990s, helping children who have witnessed violence and experienced personal tragedies come to terms with these things through various therapies and counselling sessions. We were able to provide immediate care after the war for families that were directly under attack. Over 40,000 children have benefitted from psychosocial care since the recent war.
Islamic Relief also prioritised education, spending over £4 Million to repair and rebuild 90 kindergartens and 22 schools. Each school has been equipped with a library, computer suite and science laboratory. The malnourished buildings are also full of malnourished children. To help tackle this problem, Islamic Relief initiated a project to provide milk and high-energy biscuits daily to 30,000 school children across Gaza.
As a result of any war but particularly this one, many children were left orphaned and many widows were left struggling to provide for them. This year we responded to this by providing one-to-one orphan sponsorship to 700 orphans, bringing a total of 7,000 orphans currently being sponsored in Gaza under Islamic Relief. We are trying to ensure, and doing very well, that orphans’ basic needs are met, including food, shelter, healthcare, education, winter clothes and psychosocial care.
Islamic Relief are planning to work on £16 Million worth of projects over the next year including rebuilding and equipping clinics and health centres as well as rehabilitating agricultural wells and supporting local fishermen to rebuild their businesses.
As you can see we’ve been busy, but we’re not stopping there. Blockades won’t stop us getting through to those who need our help.
Find out more about Islamic Relief's Emergency Relief projects
Find out more about Islamic Relief in Palestine
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