Help Expand Community Health Care for Refugees.
Consider an End-of-Year Contribution of Stock.
Click on the image to the left to send an email to Nidal, who will help make the contribution possible.
Exploring a Health & Wellness Partnership.
13 Nov. — While in Palestine I am meeting with partners to help our work. With a delegation from the US & from the West Bank I met with officials from Bethlehem University, a catholic-run institution. We discussed expanding our work together. Right now, we host occupational & physical therapy students in our school, which I hope we can grow to include nursing students with our health program. Training is a big part of what would help serve more needy people. Getting our trained CHWs (community health workers) from around the West Bank into continuing education programs at the University would help. Serving the emergency medicine needs of those in northern West Bank camps is also important. Below are some pictures from the meeting. Despite everything going on, the closures, violence & economic scarcity, the University is doing amazing work.
Starting a New Health System for Children.
Palestinian Refugee Children Suffer from Developmental Delay. We Are Helping to Change That.
Our Pediatric Care Project will create a health system to identify refugee children at risk of developmental delay. Early detection of developmental delay improves child & family well-being & contributes to life-long health. Working with physicians from Boston Children’s Hospital & the Happy Child Center, Ramallah, we will serve children in 3 West Bank camps with a total population of 40,000. The system has 5 parts & starts in September:
1. Educating community health workers in well-child evaluations, recognition & care for common conditions, & anticipatory guidance.
2. Hiring & training pediatric “champions” to lead local efforts.
3. Implementing international standards for developmental screening tools & approaches for early intervention.
4. Creating reference materials & protocols contextualized to Palestinian society for use by care workers.
5. Distributing family-facing reference materials in well-child care in the 0-5 age range.
Advancing Food Sovereignty with Urban Agriculture.
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Training, equiping & supporting gardeners.
With our partner the Lajee Center, we have helped residents of Aida camp, West Bank become a source for locally-grown produce. Here volunteers prepare lettuce & collard greens for distribution.
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Trained gardener produces big cabbage in hydroponic garden.
Our work with food builds on the pre-1948 history in Palestine of farming, supports the local economy & decreases reliance on Israeli-grown food.
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Inside our first hydroponic garden, a farmer works with a micro-tower.
For nearly 10 years, we have trained local residents, mostly women, to use urban growing techniques. The latest of these are hydroponics.
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Expanding hydroponic food production to individual homes.
Now, through the generosity of a donor, we have the chance to expand food production with a new hydroponic garden.
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Starting a hydroponic garden with a family.
The Abu Sheerah family live in Aida camp. The father, Abu Alaa, is originally from Beit Niteef prior to his family being made refugee in 1948. While just starting out, this is our third garden in the camp.
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A harvest in a month.
Um Alaa is the gardener of the family. She received training & tools through our partner the Lajee Center. Now, she is taking on the development of a new hydroponic system & greenhouse located on her building’s rooftop.
1for3: 1 Organization - 3 Palestinian Rights - Served by 4 Programs.
Health
Health for Palestine (H4P) is our program that supports community health. In it, 14 trained community health workers (CHWs) have completed over 10,000 visits since March 2018. 280 patients are served, most facing hypertension and diabetes, in three refugee camps. We’ve organized three medical missions that have served over 700 refugees across 3 UN- administered camps. CHW’s responded to COVID-19 through public education and PPE-aware activities. Added to home visits are weekly sporting activities, monthly health teaching sessions, and a community health bazaar. Nutrition has also been prioritized by partnering with the food program to expand access to fresh produce. Rolling out culturally appropriate well-baby exams is being planned.
Food
1for3 and the Lajee Center built the first rooftop garden in Azza camp. The project has supported the construction of 45 rooftop and greenhouse gardens in both Aida and Azza camps. These gardens are an integral part of 1for3’s efforts to promote food security. The community hydroponic garden in the Aida refugee camp makes year-round fresh food production possible using 70-90% less water. To it, we have added a second garden, and now a third by July 2024 . In addition, micro-hydroponic units are being tested, which can grow 50 plants in an area the size of a balcony, and distributed to newly trained gardeners. A seedlings & seed store is being planned.
Water
We established potable water quality monitoring programs, constructed 45 rooftop gardens and greenhouses that serve 300 people, built two community cisterns, replaced 30 rooftop water tanks to safeguard household water supplies, trained refugees to conduct independent water testing that resulted in upgraded infrastructure improvements, and led four delegations to build water testing labs and train technicians to test and monitor water. Presentations on water are regularly conducted in UN and government-run schools. In addition, monitoring the impact of Israeli military tear gas on the health of community members is a larger issue to be tackled.
Education
The Lajee Center preschool supported by 1for3 openned in September 2021 for 50 children. The staff includes a director, six teachers, a custodian, and a program coordinator. By the 2024-2025 school year a third classroom will come on line adding 50% more room for students. In addition to being a school, the building and program serve as an informal community meeting place. Families play an important part in the school by reading to classes, supporting the teachers, and providing cultural learning. Re-imaging the limited green space nearby the school is being planned. This will connect the inside classrooms to the environment & provide more spaces for the community to use.