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ACTNews, DEIR AL BALAH - The building where Mohammed Alhawy's family lives is
too shabby to be called a residential house. The walls are full of holes, and
the floor is sandy soil. But it is in that house where Mohammed and Faten
Alhawy raise their eight children.
"We are
worried about the upcoming winter, because we don't have enough clothes,
mattresses and blankets," said Faten to the Aksi Cepat Tanggap partner who
visited her at the end of October 2020.
The Alhawy
family is among thousands of underprivileged people in Gaza. They live in a
dilapidated house, the only thing that can shelter them amid the freezing
winter. However, without proper food and warm clothing, poor families in Gaza
can barely endure.
Poverty has
become a shackle that impedes the life of the Gazans. continues to surround the
people of Gaza. Mohammed can’t work because he suffers from a neurological
illness. Even if he were able to work, there are no jobs available for him.
"This is
the only mattress we have," said Faten as she continued to show the
conditions of her house. The mattress was placed in the gap between a shelf and
a wall.
There is a blue
drum near the bed which they use to collect water that they obtain from
charity. Outside their house are piles of scraps and the stove that they use
for cooking. Even their bathroom that consists of metal sheets are full of
holes.
“We have
nothing, not even food. We don't know how to provide school uniforms to our
children. The new academic year is about to begin. We can’t even afford snacks
for them. Is this a proper living that we provide them?” she said sadly.
She appealed for
help from aid agencies. "We appeal to all kindhearted people to help us
and these children," pleaded Faten.
The case of
unemployment in Gaza is one of the reasons for the poverty that affects
thousands of families in Gaza. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of
Statistics, the unemployment rate in Gaza increased by 3.6 percent in the second
quarter of 2020 to 49.1 percent. Some 42,900 people in Gaza have lost their
source of income since the end of March 2020. []
