The changing face of Gilo

17 January 2010

Oh dear, oh dear, the soldier at Gilo told us that the gate will now open at 4 a.m. instead of 5 a.m. You know what that means – rise at 2:50 a.m. instead of 3:50 a.m. Great!

Actually, when we arrived at the CP this morning at 4:35, there was barely a queue, maybe 400 people. We couldn’t figure out why there were so few people but did notice that the first turnstile was already open. After a quiet, orderly crowd of 1869 had passed through the CP, we spoke to the soldier in the booth who informed us the gate will now be opening at 4 a.m. everyday. Inshala! This will substantially alter our task. We called Machsom Watch to see if they could confirm this info for us – which they did, so we are now in the process of attending the CP at 3:45 instead of 4:45 to see what happens. So far it has made an improvement in the life of a Palestinian getting to work – it’s all relative, I guess – it’s still a very demeaning process but not as demeaning as before.

This week, our team is feeling our way around Bethlehem, meeting with contacts, getting to know where we can buy what we need and just generally getting comfortable in the placement. We have hosted a delegation almost everyday - this morning 23 young Norwegians from a political youth party with sympathy for Israel, - so we had to get up to speed very quickly to sound half-way intelligent. I think that we have managed, although we need a little more communication among our group – Gunnar began in Swedish (which the Norwegians understood) and then I took over half the group but didn’t know what he had already told them. These kinks will be worked out as the days unfold.

There is one ‘baby hospital’ (comparable to CHEO) in the West Bank which is almost in our backyard. Yesterday, we had an interesting visit with the PR person, Bashir, who gave us good information about the medical care (or lack thereof) in the West Bank. This hospital has its roots in the Christian community, however, treats (and pays for) any child in need of care regardless of religious affiliation. The name of the hospital is Children’s Relief Bethlehem or the Caritas Baby Hospital and was founded in 1953 by Father Ernst Schnydrig, a Swiss man. He apparently had come to Bethlehem at Christmas to worship at the Church of the Nativity and came across a Palestinian father who was burying his dead child in the mud near Aida Refugee Camp. He was so moved by the sight that he open a 14-bed house for sick babies of the poor, which has now grown to an 82-bed hospital. It exists on charitable donations primarily through the Caritas Sisters and the Catholic dioceses in Italy, Switzerland, Germany and other European countries.

Dr. George Zoughbi, a paediatrician, took us on a tour and told us stories of the children he treats. George was educated at McGill U. and practiced in Edmonton and New York before returning to Palestine about five months ago. One little patient, a six year old girl, is in renal failure and her father and mother will not sign consent for dialysis 3 times per week – too much trouble for them and she is not worth it. We asked if the child were male, would the parents agree to treatment and he answered, sadly, yes. He said that she has been in hospital so much that the staff has become her family. She will die soon.

Another patient he introduced us to was a three-year old child who fit in the same size of bed as the new-borns (you know, the little, clear plastic bins that new-borns sleep in at our hospitals). This child suffered from a respiratory illness (asthma), caused or made worse, in large part, by second hand smoke and diesel emissions. He said that she came from a household where the men refused to give up smoking in the house. The nurse picked her up for a cuddle, took off her breathing mask and she responded with a smile for us, just before she (the child) reached for the mask again. She will die soon.

It is a very clean, well-kept hospital with good relations with the Hadassah Hospital in Israel (west Jerusalem). They said that children in need of surgery are transported by Palestinian ambulance to the CP, met by and transferred to an Israeli ambulance to continue the journey to Hadassah. The hospital staff assist parents with getting permits for the mother to travel to Jerusalem to be with the child. All expenses for the family are covered by donation.

George said his dream for the hospital would be that it become a full-service hospital with paediatric specialists in all areas, so that among other things, families would not be separated by the wall and CPs at already stressful times.
Enough of the gloomy! Did I tell you that I nearly got washed out of the CP yesterday with the rain? This is good news, the farmers really need it. When it comes down here, it really comes down in sheets.

Team issues are well in hand with cooking, cleaning and shopping being shared activities (well, almost).

Until later......still trying unsuccessfully to incorporate photos into the blog.....