Hey Cats,
This month spotlight feature is all about how you can help someone less fortunate than you.
From
getting a glass of clean water from your kitchen tap and turning your
lights on in the evening to visiting your local GP, there are a whole
range of activities that many of us take for granted in the UK. The
same isn’t true for the Palestinians living in Gaza. The continuing
crisis in this 25-mile long strip of land along the Mediterranean
coast means that the more than 1.5 million people living there have
to endure significant hardships. Problems range from a lack of access
to safe water to poor medical provisions and regular power cuts.
There
are ways to help the people of Palestine though. Charities around the
world are working on projects to improve lives there. Keep reading to
find out more about three of the initiatives being run.
1.
Giving access to clean water
The
charity Human Appeal is involved in a number of different projects
aimed at helping the people of Gaza. One of its initiatives centres
on improving access to clean drinking water. According to the
charity, more than 94 per cent of the water in Gaza is not fit to
drink, with contagions causing a range of diseases and health
disorders, including high blood pressure and renal failure. On its
website humanappeal.org.uk,
the organisation states that thanks to money given by donors, it has
been able to provide clean water for more than 200,000
schoolchildren. It now wants to construct a water desalination plant
on the coast to provide safe water for the whole of the population.
The plant will also provide employment for local people.
2.
Giving medical supplies
Healthcare
centres have been badly affected by a variety of factors, including a
shortage of medical supplies and a lack of construction materials
needed to repair and replace ageing and damaged buildings. Several of
the hospitals on the Gaza Strip are around 60 years old and are in
desperate need of modernisation. The condition of some of the area’s
health centres is endangering patient and worker safety. To help ease
the pressure on healthcare services, Human Appeal also runs an
initiative that focuses on supplying hospitals with the equipment and
medicines they need to treat patients.
3.
Providing safe lighting solutions
Power
cuts are a part of everyday life in Gaza. Outages of 18 hours a day
are not uncommon, and this obviously presents people with a whole
array of practical difficulties. One of the side effects of the
electricity shortages is the fact that people are often forced to
rely on unsafe lighting solutions. Poor quality portable generators
can cause carbon monoxide poisoning, while candles can be a fire
hazard. To help reduce these risks, Human Appeal runs a charity
initiative that centres on providing families with safe lighting.
Of
course, this isn’t an exhaustive list of the ways in which charity
donations are helping the people of Gaza. Other examples include
providing food parcels and sponsoring fishermen to give them access
to boats and equipment. You can find out more about the different
projects being run there by simply doing some research online.
Brilliant post. Thanks for sharing! xx
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