SOLAR LIGHTS HELP GAZA’S YOUNG DO HOMEWORK AT NIGHT
27 March 2015
Portable solar lights, recently distributed amid ongoing power shortages, have done much to improve the living conditions of Palestine refugees in the Gaza Strip, who are still living in UNRWA collective centres some six months since the end of the July/August 2014 conflict.
In Khan Younis, in the southern region of Gaza, Ala' Al-Jikhlib, an UNRWA Collective Centre Manager, is carefully counting a delivery of solar lights. The portable lights are a gift from Japanese NGO Japan Asia Cultural Exchanges (JACE), and via UNRWA will be handed to 56 Palestine refugee families whose homes were destroyed in the recent conflict and who are still living in emergency accommodation across three collective centres in the region.
It has been an eager wait since Ala’ first heard of the donation, and he is excited that the lights have finally made their way into Gaza. Power outages are constant across the Strip. Before the summer 2014 conflict and since the imposed blockade in 2007, Gaza generally operated on an “eight hours on, 12 hours off” emergency electricity schedule. Acute shortages after the July/August 2014 conflict have made things worse, with electricity now limited to a maximum of just six hours a day. Most nights, collective centres face shortages, and while generators provide back-up power, overload and lack of continuity have become an issue.
It’s mid-afternoon by the time Ala’ and his team mark off the final family name to receive lights, and a boxed light is handed to a young man who has been waiting patiently in the corridor of the Amal Elementary Girls Collective Centre in Khan Younis. Taking the light, 28-year-old Mohammed Abu Tuima, a Palestine refugee, said he is grateful for the donation.
Mohammed said he has seven mouths to feed. Before the conflict destroyed his home, family life was simple, but happy. He had a job as a labourer, but work lately has run out with many of businesses that survived the summer 2014 hostilities mostly idle because of the slow pace of reconstruction being fueled by difficulties getting construction materials into Gaza.
Now, Mohammed says life confined to a small room in the collective centre is challenging. He tries to encourage his children to keep up their education, but with on-going blackouts each night, having consistent light for his children to study has been a concern.
"These lights are a safe and easy-to-use device. My children in particular will benefit from them as they need to do their homework in the evening during power outages,” he said.
Father of four, Shadi Abu Jami’, lived in Al-Zanna area near the eastern Gaza Strip border where he owned a house and a small grocery shop. During the recent conflict, Shadi said his house and shop were destroyed which forced him and his family to seek refuge at Al-Amal Elementary Girls Collective Centre.
In a bid to have light for his family late at night in the collective centre, Shadi sometimes uses candles but he was always concerned about safety issues. He believes the new solar light will have a big impact on keeping his family happy at night, and thanked Japan Asia Cultural Exchanges Organization for its contribution.
Over 100,000 dwellings – more than twice as many homes in Gaza as initially estimated – were damaged or destroyed during last summer’s conflict, according to the on-going technical assessment being conducted by UNRWA.
The number of IDPs in UNRWA collective centres continues to decrease with the Agency now providing shelter to around 7,300 IDPs in 13 Agency-run collective centres across Gaza.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
UNRWA is a United Nations agency established by the General Assembly in 1949 and is mandated to provide assistance and protection to a population of some 5 million registered Palestine refugees. Its mission is to help Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, West Bank and the Gaza Strip to achieve their full potential in human development, pending a just solution to their plight. UNRWA’s services encompass education, health care, relief and social services, camp infrastructure and improvement, and microfinance.
Financial support to UNRWA has not kept pace with an increased demand for services caused by growing numbers of registered refugees, expanding need, and deepening poverty. As a result, the Agency's General Fund (GF), supporting UNRWA’s core activities and 97 per cent reliant on voluntary contributions, has begun each year with a large projected deficit. Currently the deficit stands at US$ 100 million.
For more information, please contact:
Christopher Gunness
UNRWA Spokesperson
Mobile:
+972 (0)54 240 2659
Office:
+972 (0)2 589 0267
Sami Mshasha
Chief of Communications & Arabic Language Spokesperson
Mobile:
+972 (0)54 216 8295
Office:
+972 (0)2 589 0724
Milina Shahin
Public Information Officer – Gaza Field Office
Mobile:
+972 599 609 485
Office:
+972 8 2887213
Document Sources: United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)
Subject: Assistance, Children, Closures/Curfews/Blockades, Education and culture, Gaza Strip, Internally displaced persons, Living conditions, Refugees and displaced persons
Publication Date: 27/03/2015