Eid Project for Gaza Orphans

Thursday 17^th Sep. / 2009

HI is trying all the time to help the Palestinian people specially those who live in the refugees camps in Gaza strip.  And from the beginning of HI we are trying to draw the smile on the children faces. This time those children are orphans who lost their parents or one of them (the father) in the last war on Gaza strip at 2008-2009  and now they are living with their grand parents their mothers or some families who sponsored them.

Eid Project for Gaza Orphans targeted 50 families in the middle area of Gaza strip and specially in Alnusirate and Deir-Elbalah refugees camps.

Each family have at least 3-5 orphans. HI did this project in cooperation with Alshorok Association for Community Development (SACD).

HI gave each family a pocket of money  sweets and chocolate package. We made this project at this time in the end of  the holy month for muslims ( Ramadan ) because after few days Eid ul-Fitr is coming . What is Eid ul-Fitr?

Eid means (festival) and Fitr means (breaking the fast) so Eid ul-Fitr is literally a festival for breaking the fast. After the intense religious introspection and fasting of Ramadan Muslims take Eid as an opportunity to have fun celebrate their faith and enjoy the company of friends and family. The festival may also get quite chaotic with fireworks and distributions of presents to friends and neighbors.

For Eid ul-Fitr families cleanse themselves in the morning eat a small meal and then attend prayer at a mosque. By tradition celebrants offer alms to the mosque for distribution to the poor before the start of Eid prayers. After prayer and a sermon the festivities of Eid ul-Fitr begin with celebrants typically visiting each other in their finest clothes to exchange gifts and commemorate friendship and eating sweets and chocolates. Eid is also a traditional time for forgiveness and reconciliations.

For this reason HI gave the families a pocket of money to buy new clothes for their orphans so they can celebrate the Eid as other children at this day.

HI called the families to come and receive their gift for Eid some of them were the grand father grand mother or someone who sponsored the orphans.  And some families bring with them one of the orphans.

* It was so beautiful to see the smile on the orphans faces and it was so sad when I looked at their  eyes this is the first Eid after the war after the dead of their  parents maybe this money and the sweets will make them happy but Iam sure they will not be happy when they see other children going with their parents to visit friends at Eid but those orphans lost their parents!

Also another scene when I gave a gift for an old woman who take care of her grandchildren after they lost their father. She told me (Shukran ya ibne Allah yekhalek le ahlak)- ( its in arabic it mean Thanks my son may Allah protect  you  for your family ) I saw the tears in her eyes she lost her son in the war and this Eid he will not come to visit her to share the happy time with his mother as the previous Eid !* Chairman of HI – Hamza A. Eltawil

Finally I would like to thank all those great people who donated for Gaza Orphans to help those needy children in Gaza strip. And special thanks for Rowena from UK who created Gaza Orphans group and gathered the donations and sent them for HI to do this project.

Click here to see some photos from the project.