Wednesday, July 8, 2009

At Home in Gaza

"Home exhibiting signs of extreme poverty in Gaza refugee Camp

This video depicts the interior of a home in the Gaza refugee camp for Palestinian refugees. The home which was built upon rubble is home to a family of 9. This particular home, like others in the refugee camp, has no established windows but, instead, relies upon large openings between wall and ceiling that are ineffective in preventing vermin and rodents from entering the home and equally ineffective in maintaining reasonable temperatures in the winter and rainy seasons. The green mat in the center is a mattress. The young boy on the right is in the process of taking a nap on the second mattress at the right of the screen. In the background is a makeshift "living room" with 4 separate chairs (one made of a pillow on top of a wheelbarrow and the other three "Chairs" being upturned water containers). To the back of the home is the "kitchen" which consists of a heating pad placed above a large red metal barrel.

Info: The Gaza refugee camp in Jerash, Jordan is home to 21,000-34,000 Palestinian refugees who fled from Gaza, Palestine in 1948 and 1967. Unlike Palestinian refugees from other districts of Palestine, the Palestinians in the Gaza refugee camp are considered persona non grata in Jordan (i.e. they are denied an identity, not granted identification papers and, therefore, denied the right to work and travel freely throughout the country). Most Jordanians and Palestinians living in the capital of Amman remain unaware of the Palestinians in the Gaza refugee camp prompting many experts to describe these refugees as the "Forgotten Ones". The videos above provide a lucid glimpse into the living conditions many of these refugees have had to contend with given the lack of political, social, and economic options at their disposal. Please keep them in your prayers and feel free to contact us on how you can help.

Watch Until The End!



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