7th April 2012: Visit to Institutions and Palestinian Refugee Camps.
The first morning comprised of visits to various institutions working for the Palestinian cause, specifically Humanitarian Relief for Development Institution (Al-Ghawth), Takaful for Child Welfare (Takaful), and the Palestinian Association for Human Rights (Witness).
Firstly, we visited Al-Ghawth, where they explained the organisation’s aims, vision, mission and future prospects.
Al-Ghawth provides material and financial aid to impoverished families, orphans, widows and disabled people. Their work involves mainly those living in Palestinian refugee camps; however they also cater to the general population of Lebanon.
When asked about funding, Sister Imaan smiled and said, “We may not have much money but doing charity work is a noble job in the eyes of Allah. Therefore we put trust in Him that He will take care of our affairs and ease our efforts..”
We handed a donation of £9,800 to Al-Ghawth.
Secondly, we went to Takaful, where we discussed about the long term plan regarding the Palestinian Orphan Sponsorship. Following the footsteps of Aqsa Syarif, who were highly appreciated for the thousands of orphans they have adopted, we established a formal collaboration between Israa’ Institution and Takaful. We hope that this would facilitate more contributions from Malaysians in the United Kingdom and Ireland for these orphans.
Since the launch of HOPE campaign two weeks ago, we managed to raise £5, 600 which enabled us to sponsor 7 orphans for two years Insyaallah.
This sponsorship covers their basic living needs and education. Takaful monitors their progress monthly, and they shared how life changing this sponsorship was to these bright but unfortunate orphans.
Takaful also provided biodata of the orphans sponsored, together with a handwritten thank you note from the orphans which we shall distribute to the generous donors soon.
Next we went to Witness, which is an organisation fighting for Palestinian’s human rights. They carry out research and highlight various human rights issues at both national and international level, in addition to catering to local and individual needs for people in the refugee camps. We handed a donation of €2,300 to Witness.
Amazingly, there are only four main players behind this amazing feat. When asked how they managed this, Brother Mahmood said, “We are Muslims, not just by identity card, but by heart and mind. Therefore, one of us equals to 10 people.“ This reminded us of verse 65 in Surah Al-Anfaal,
“O Prophet! Urge the believers to war. If there are 20 patient ones of you, they shall overcome 200 and if there are 100 of you, they shall overcome 1000 of those who disbelieve, because they are people who do not understand. “
After lunch, we headed off to the refugee camps in Beirut. There are 12 Palestinian Refugee Camps in Lebanon, and 5 are located in Beirut. We visited Shatila and Burj Al-Barajneh.
Buildings were built in a haphazard manner, without proper foundation and structure. Houses were separated by narrow and damp alleys with an unpleasant smell, about 80cm in width maximum. Electric wires were dangling just above our head, intertwined with water pipes, causing several fire incidents and supply shortage in the past.
In addition, the Lebanese government discriminate against them, by denying them the right to buy property outside the camp, employment and also healthcare in public hospitals. Therefore, their only healthcare provider is the UN clinic in the refugee camp, which has limited manpower and medical supplies.
Although nothing can do justice to picture their difficult life, pictures below illustrate the sufferings of our brothers and sisters.
Despite all this, in the words of Brother Mahmood, who was raised in a refugee camp, “Life goes on”.
Stay tuned for our experience visiting the Lebanese-Palestinian border the next day!!
-Team iLubnan 2012-