VICTIMS OF TERROR
From the moment we awoke to the devastation of October 7th, every new statistic that we heard had an injured person in the hospital, a devastated family—people who were physically, psychologically, and even spiritually harmed. Our Mercy Fund worked on both the personal and bureaucratic level to assist these men and women. And, while personal visits to hospitals and loving care is incredibly important, it is also important to help them long-term financially while they are recovering as many of them will never be able to return to the life they once had.
A Jewish woman from the south lost her husband, a police officer, in battle against the terrorists. She and her children are suffering from the trauma of this experience and she has to make many decisions about the future while trying to process it all. Our Peles lawyers are helping her with all the legal paperwork she needs to submit in order to receive government benefits. We are also helping with counseling and other support. Peles is the legal aid arm of the Mercy Fund.
MERCY BEYOND BORDERS
Israel and the Palestinian Territories have an extremely complicated relationship. By law, Israelis are not allowed to go to certain places in the Palestinian Territories and Palestinians from the West Bank require a visa to work in Israel. After the war started, many Palestinians did not have their work visas renewed as Israel was worried about terror attacks from within as well as from without. The Israeli government just did not have the time or the resources to go through every applicant and issue a visa for those who just wanted to provide for their families. The Mercy Fund has been trying to assist where we are able with those most in need after their visas were denied.
We are continuing our support for many Palestinian families in Bethlehem and other cities in the West Bank. One family we serve is struggling because, under the wartime situation, the father can't go to his job in Israel while the mother is battling with cancer. This family also has two children with special needs and the house they live in is in very poor condition. We are assisting them with various things, including food assistance and providing money to help renovate their home to serve the needs of the children better.
Another Palestinian family we are trying to help consists of a wife who is the sole breadwinner as the husband is very sick. She also is prevented from going to her job, cleaning houses in Jerusalem, so she is not receiving income and is very worried about the future. We are helping her with food assistance, household supplies, as well as with school supplies for her children.
SERVING CHILDREN
Many families in an array of communities are financially hard-pressed in this season. In an effort to lighten the load, the Mercy Fund partnered with another organization to distribute backpacks and school supplies to children of all ages in low-income families. Among those who received the backpacks were Eritrean refugees in Tel Aviv, Arab Christian families in Bethlehem, members of the Domari community in Jerusalem, and children in Messianic congregations in Ashkelon. With so many other financial burdens due to inflation and the continuing war, parents were especially grateful for the assistance in equipping their kids with backpacks and other back-to-school supplies.
Our partnership with G*, a dedicated Jewish educator, grows, as she works diligently alongside different schools to implement a new educational program that is designed to enhance literacy skills and communication methods for children. The program is widely used in Finland and has proved very beneficial for children affected by trauma, as the communication-focus provides them with tools to better express themselves in the aftermath of the events of October 7th.
Thanks to the generosity of our donors, G* was able to provide kits for 30 additional classrooms in the South of Israel. In sync with this initiative, The Mercy Fund was also able to facilitate the donation of 160 tablets to children participating in her programs, providing tools that not only enrich their learning experience but do so in an interactive way. The tablets are being distributed across three schools: two of which are in the South. The third school is in the North of the country, where evacuated children are continuing their education despite being away from home for many months due to the conflict on the Northern border.
Teachers and students alike expressed gratitude, noting how these tablets have not only enhanced learning but also offered a glimmer of hope during uncertain times. At The Mercy Fund we are intent on introducing this program in the West Bank, where educational challenges are prevalent and schools are under-equipped. We aim to start with a pilot program at one school, demonstrating the program's value in order to inspire other schools to follow suit, starting with training to equip those who will teach the program. The journey is long, but the potential ripple effects of this initiative could transform many educational outcomes for many children and even help lift up the region as a whole.
The low-income schools in the South continue to suffer from the repercussions of the war. The children are hard hit, as their parents struggle and can’t make ends meet. The schools are providing these children with the necessities: clothing, hygiene products, hot meals, and school supplies. But the teachers still see that this is barely scratching the surface of the trauma and grief. In one school, four of their young students have a parent who has committed suicide since the war began. These children keep coming to school because they have nothing else, and nowhere else to go.
It was these schools which received a gift of musical instruments through the Mercy Fund, thanks to the generosity of our partners.
One of the teachers called the Mercy Fund director at the end of the first day they introduced the musical instruments. She told of one of the children, whose parent committed suicide: “Each morning he arrives, crying and clinging to his teacher. Today, when we put an instrument in his hands, he changed. This is what he has, this is his.”
From the first hour, the teachers saw the shift in their students. They laughed. They made music. They had fun. Their music was something for living, for the future, that the war could not take from them. One teacher wrote, at the end of the day: “I have to share with you my excitement arising from the joy of the children in the colorfulness of the yard with the wonderful and empowering musical equipment!”
This is what your partnership has made possible. Children traumatized by war, trying to exist in its shadow, now have the means to not just survive, but they have hope to thrive. That is the prayer of the Mercy Fund: that through the music, they will begin to live again.
Na’amah Smith serves as the Mercy Fund Coordinator at Christ Church Jerusalem.
