Matthias Jochmann: This is Record of Change, Episode 7.
Matthias Jochmann: My name is Matthias Jochmann, I am your host for this episode.
Matthias Jochmann: Record of Change listens to 8 individuals located across the globe on how the Covid19-pandemic has changed their lives.
Matthias Jochmann: In this episode we'll listen to Fidaa Shurrab from Gaza City.
Matthias Jochmann: Fidaa is the program and fundraising officer at Afaluna Society for Deaf Children and she will share with us how the
Matthias Jochmann: pandemic influenced her work and what restrictions people living in the Gaza Strip face, even without a pandemic.
Matthias Jochmann: Today, I am talking to you from Bonn, in Germany.
Matthias Jochmann: While many people here in Germany got very emotional about reduced traveling possibilities this summer, I was curious to hear a perspective from Gaza.
Matthias Jochmann: In case you don't know, the Gaza Strip is part of Palestine and finds itself under a full blockade since 2008.
Matthias Jochmann: The Gaza Strip is not only restricted in movement, but also in its resources, hence, both electricity and internet often drop.
Matthias Jochmann: But let's hear from Fidaa herself:
Fidaa Shurrab: I am Fidaa Shurrab from Palestine living in the Gaza strip.
Fidaa Shurrab: Maybe Gaza City I work as a fundraising and project officer at Atfaluna society for deaf children.
Fidaa Shurrab: Also, I'm a freelancer, interpreter, translator and writer with several magazines.
Matthias Jochmann: For those people who don't know what is at follow, not doing.
Fidaa Shurrab: Atfal una society for deaf children, serves, children, adults with and without disabilities in different, thematic areas.
Fidaa Shurrab: it provides its services and intervention in a very comprehensive and holistic approach.
Fidaa Shurrab: Children are being, enrolled in early intervention services, provided with hearing aids.
Fidaa Shurrab: After the age of three they are in the kindergarten, after they finish the kindergarten, they are enrolled in
Fidaa Shurrab: Atfaluna school, that has annually the amount of almost 200 students, deaf students from all over the Gaza strip.
Fidaa Shurrab: We have also a vocational training and income generation program that supports the livelihood and economic empowerment of persons with,
Fidaa Shurrab: and without disabilities; through employability skills and also job creation, and the local market and supporting also self-employment.
Fidaa Shurrab: Protection and psychosocial support is one of the main problems that we provide here in Atfaluna for a children, adults, women, girls.
Fidaa Shurrab: We also provide interventions such as speech therapy sessions for adults and children who have speech problems.
Fidaa Shurrab: And we advocate throughout all the community to change the policies, to make the community at large inclusive for children.
Matthias Jochmann: I do know a little bit about the Gaza strip, but for those who don't know, can you
Matthias Jochmann: describe, what is the special situation about the Gaza strip and why is the work of Atfaluna needed that much?
Fidaa Shurrab: the Gaza stip is one of the most densely with population area in the world.
Fidaa Shurrab: It's estimated that 2 million people live in the Gaza strip.
Fidaa Shurrab: And the very narrow area of the Gaza strip.
Fidaa Shurrab: The Gaza strip is encountered with many hardships and difficulties, due to several factors.
Fidaa Shurrab: Since more than 11 years, the Gaza strip, suffered from a very tightened, siege.
Fidaa Shurrab: And no movement, freedom is allowed.
Fidaa Shurrab: We have no borders that we can at any time decide to travel.
Fidaa Shurrab: The siege has imposed so many complications on the life and the living condition on the
Fidaa Shurrab: people in the Gaza strip, economic difficulties, health problems, education restrictions.
Fidaa Shurrab: So, the strip faces so many difficulties, but also the people in Gaza have the skill of coping mechanism.
Fidaa Shurrab: There are many success stories coming out of the Gaza strip, but we learn how to laugh.
Fidaa Shurrab: I heard, once someone said: From where did you learn, how to cope, in those difficult living conditions in all life aspects, this did not stop.
Fidaa Shurrab: the people in Gaza from dreaming , from going after their wishes, you can see so many potentials for the youth.
Fidaa Shurrab: The children.
Fidaa Shurrab: All have this willingness to, to reach out the Gaza Strip.
Fidaa Shurrab: We still believe that it's our right, to live in peace, to have the freedom of movement, to lift the siege.
Fidaa Shurrab: It's very important.
Fidaa Shurrab: To end all the violence and, against the people living in the Gaza trip and Palestine in general.
Matthias Jochmann: Could you draw a picture of your neighborhood, your environment, what do you see every day?
Matthias Jochmann: And also, how has it changed due to the pandemic, if at all?
Fidaa Shurrab: The most thing that the Gaza strip is kinda characterized with is the sea.
Fidaa Shurrab: It's our only outlet, actually.
Fidaa Shurrab: When we stand at the sea, we see the whole word, so the pandemic, was difficult and it has affected the lives, in Gaza.
Fidaa Shurrab: It's true that we did not witness, huge outbreak among the community and people in Gaza.
Fidaa Shurrab: It was really controlled in a very effective way, but it also increased the suffering of people.
Fidaa Shurrab: Because now, the borders are even more tightened to be closed.
Fidaa Shurrab: So people coming from abroad are being kept from 21 to 28 days in quarantine.
Fidaa Shurrab: Because we know, if one case was being reported among the community, the whole Gaza strip will suffer a very devastating consequences.
Fidaa Shurrab: We have very poor health system, due to political situation, imposed siege.
Fidaa Shurrab: So, those who rule in Gaza, do all the efforts, to limit the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus among the community members.
Fidaa Shurrab: But at the same time, as I said, it has affected the living condition of people.
Fidaa Shurrab: So many people have lost their source of income.
Fidaa Shurrab: We already have limited employment opportunities in the Gaza.
Fidaa Shurrab: We have like 60% of unemployment rate while the world bank says that 80% of the Gaza strip people depend on humanitarian aid.
Fidaa Shurrab: So the pandemic has increased the economy difficulties.
Fidaa Shurrab: We in Atfaluna have witnessed so many reported cases of abuse and child issues.
Fidaa Shurrab: GBV issues have been also increased, against women due to the distress that people suffer from the whole economic condition.
Fidaa Shurrab: But the good thing that NGOs working in the Gaza strip, I'm sorry for the noise; working in the Gaza Strip...
Matthias Jochmann: what is the noise?
Fidaa Shurrab: It is the printer because the electricity went off.
Fidaa Shurrab: So it when it went back, the printer has turned on, sorry for the phone as well.
Matthias Jochmann: Our conversation for this episode was interrupted 4 times due to an interruption in the electricity supplies.
Fidaa Shurrab: So, the NGOs they managed a very effective emergency response.
Fidaa Shurrab: Education has somehow continued through e-learning modalities.
Fidaa Shurrab: The psychosocial support was giving through remote modalities.
Fidaa Shurrab: Here in Atfaluna, we had so effective approach in reaching our beneficiaries, and we did not stop our intervention.
Fidaa Shurrab: We increased the services, we increased the efforts, so that the children in our care, are not
Fidaa Shurrab: that much affected by the pandemic and, so that they start live in a good livelihood conditions.
Matthias Jochmann: So, today is August 19.
Matthias Jochmann: It's already some time that people start talking about the pandemic.
Matthias Jochmann: How do you perceive people around you currently being affected by the pandemic?
Fidaa Shurrab: Okay.
Fidaa Shurrab: They are afraid, but being careful and taking the precautionary measures are not at the same at the same level of the start of the pandemic in March.
Fidaa Shurrab: It's different.
Fidaa Shurrab: Now people are somehow assured, but every time we learned that there are new reported cases in the quarantine, we do feel that there might be any heavy outbreak.
Fidaa Shurrab: You can see people do not fully follow the precautionary measures, but other people do follow those precautionary measures.
Fidaa Shurrab: But generally speaking, we have some kind of normal life going on.
Fidaa Shurrab: People are moving freely in the streets.
Fidaa Shurrab: Public places are open to receive people.
Fidaa Shurrab: Precautionary measures are being taken, but not at the same level as when the pandemic started.
Fidaa Shurrab: But fear is still there.
Matthias Jochmann: How did you personally first time hear about the pandemic and what did you think about it?
Fidaa Shurrab: Yes, it was on Saturday when the first two reported cases in the Gaza strip were reported.
Fidaa Shurrab: First at the Westbank.
Fidaa Shurrab: And there were like 80 reported cases and still the Gaza Strip was free of any reported cases.
Fidaa Shurrab: So, and Saturday.
Fidaa Shurrab: the 4th of March, we learned about the two reported cases.
Fidaa Shurrab: So when I came back to the work it was already, the decision is making to restrict all kinds of
Fidaa Shurrab: activities and to limit all types of moving in the streets, to close down the markets, the public places.
Fidaa Shurrab: Wedding halls were closed.
Fidaa Shurrab: It was something new for us, how we will be continuing living in such a situation.
Fidaa Shurrab: What if the pandemic has heavily outbreaken among the people living in Gaza.
Fidaa Shurrab: So at the beginning, we used to work within a very limited team members.
Fidaa Shurrab: So, we at Atfaluna 134 employees.
Fidaa Shurrab: So at the first of the pandemic, only 30 people used to come to work.
Fidaa Shurrab: Working on service providers and the admin staff, the emergency team.
Fidaa Shurrab: so we were looking at our services, and what will we be doing?
Fidaa Shurrab: and through discussions, learning from other experiences, searching online, seeing
Fidaa Shurrab: how other countries that were affected, what they have done and learning from them.
Fidaa Shurrab: So our main target is to raise the awareness of families and children about how to take precautionary measures against COVID.
Fidaa Shurrab: And we started developing videos that can address children, adults provided in sign language.
Fidaa Shurrab: And, written also messages, so that everyone would understand what is being said.
Fidaa Shurrab: Then we started the remote psychosocial support.
Fidaa Shurrab: The difficult thing that we do provide our economic empowerment program for our beneficiaries.
Fidaa Shurrab: But this program stopped during the first month of the pandemic, because it depends on social
Fidaa Shurrab: gatherings and bringing people here, to be trained and then sending them to the local market.
Fidaa Shurrab: But the local market was closed and suffering from financial matters.
Fidaa Shurrab: So it was difficult how to, respond to the livelihood or economic needs, for the families.
Fidaa Shurrab: So we provided hot meals for families, through our food catering program.
Fidaa Shurrab: That helped allieveating some of the suffering of the families, we provided them with
Fidaa Shurrab: hygienic kits as well, so that they are protected, to their homes and home settings.
Fidaa Shurrab: Messages to the families, how to treat the children during this pandemic and home confinement, how to answer their childrens questions.
Fidaa Shurrab: The education also continued.
Fidaa Shurrab: We developed somehow a very primitive e-learning approach.
Fidaa Shurrab: We recorded educational videos to the children and formulated a WhatsApp-groups to the families.
Fidaa Shurrab: And we sent those videos to the children, so that they are connected with the schools and their teachers.
Fidaa Shurrab: So, it was difficult at the beginning, but it widened our way of thinking.
Fidaa Shurrab: And we have we have these two modalities, the blended interventions, and also the remote or, e- online-modalities.
Fidaa Shurrab: So it was a learning, actually, journey for us.
Fidaa Shurrab: Something new.
Fidaa Shurrab: We are used to crisis in the Gaza Strip.
Fidaa Shurrab: Especially in wars, but this pandemic was something new.
Matthias Jochmann: You just said something, which I was starting to guess that, the fact that you are living in Gaza, you are already used to difficult situations.
Matthias Jochmann: You're used to having big obstacles.
Matthias Jochmann: I was wondering if that helped you in overcoming these obstacles, raised now by the pandemic.
Fidaa Shurrab: Yes, it helped us because in every situation, we train people on crisis management.
Fidaa Shurrab: And every intervention and every design of a project, we do have this risk matrix and the likelihood of happening and how we can mitigate those risks.
Fidaa Shurrab: The new thing is that those risks include the political situation, security situation, social risks, economic risks, border's closure.
Fidaa Shurrab: It has never contained any something related to natural disasters or even pandemics.
Fidaa Shurrab: But the new thing that we have learned and, we built up on our experiences, because even during Wars, we did continue our intervention and services.
Fidaa Shurrab: So this kind of link has led us to develop interventions during the pandemic.
Fidaa Shurrab: So it was built on our experiences, and crisis management and living the crisis, not only managing it.
Fidaa Shurrab: So yes, it helped me very much.
Matthias Jochmann: I'm impressed.
Matthias Jochmann: I mean, you've managed to tackle it so quickly.
Matthias Jochmann: It sounds like it's been, I mean difficult, but very quick and effective.
Fidaa Shurrab: But at the same time it requires so much of resources.
Fidaa Shurrab: Hello again, I'm sorry.
Fidaa Shurrab: Internet connection problems.I was saying that, yes, but it required so many efforts.
Fidaa Shurrab: It is very challenging, especially when you're talking about remote services or interventions.
Fidaa Shurrab: Not everyone in the Gaza Strip have internet connections or smartphones that they can be reached through.
Fidaa Shurrab: So we were working in two modalities like providing the online or remote psychosocial through social media and other platforms and also hotlines.
Fidaa Shurrab: But at the same time, our team used to go and reach out for those who do not have any kind of internet connections or smartphones.
Fidaa Shurrab: It's challenging and it requires so much, so many resources to so that we can continue.
Matthias Jochmann: I would like to ask you for your personal experience with the pandemic.
Matthias Jochmann: Do you remember any special moments of surprise or, or, for me personally, when I look back to the last four or five months I can see a lot of ups and downs.
Matthias Jochmann: Many moments of fear and many moments of hope.
Fidaa Shurrab: Yes.
Fidaa Shurrab: It has affected me on a personal level.
Fidaa Shurrab: So in the first few months I was so afraid that my family members would be infected.
Fidaa Shurrab: So everytime I read on how to protect ourselves from not being infected.
Fidaa Shurrab: So I came up with this new things and new materials and hygienic materials and say, we should do this and should do that.
Fidaa Shurrab: Every single place in our room should have hydrogen, alcohol so that we always do, sanitize our hands.
Fidaa Shurrab: I used to tell my mom, I'm already going out to my work.
Fidaa Shurrab: So, anything you want?
Fidaa Shurrab: Don't send anyone, just tell me and I'll be bringing it, in my way home.
Fidaa Shurrab: Those were very challenging moments, at all events, difficult, still they are difficult.
Fidaa Shurrab: Still there are risks.
Fidaa Shurrab: But also it opens our minds to think deeply, to reformulate our approaches.
Fidaa Shurrab: To read more.
Fidaa Shurrab: It is a learning, difficult opportunity, this is how I would name it, for myself.
Matthias Jochmann: And then what gives you hope?
Fidaa Shurrab: It's not the last crisis that we're living.
Fidaa Shurrab: It wasn't only the pandemic.
Fidaa Shurrab: Yesterday and the day beforewe were witnessing Air Strikes across the Gaza Strip.
Fidaa Shurrab: We still have hope to live.
Fidaa Shurrab: We still have hope that this place will be a brighter place to live.
Fidaa Shurrab: I have hope that we all in the Gaza Strip have the potentials, have the minds to do what is good for our community and what is good for ourselves.
Fidaa Shurrab: As long as we have mind, I always believe in the saying that says, difficulties are brains.
Fidaa Shurrab: So this is my hope, that difficulty doesn't mean that this is the end.
Fidaa Shurrab: And there's always hope for a better life.
Matthias Jochmann: That's pretty warm words.
Matthias Jochmann: I mean, you know, like in the bubbles that I act in, more and more people were talking about solidarity and about resilience.
Matthias Jochmann: But this was more like, for me personally, I felt like this was something people thought about it in the beginning, but now they are like...
Fidaa Shurrab: Building the resilience and coping mechanisms is very important.
Fidaa Shurrab: This is not a normal situation, but we should continue our normal life, but taking the consideration, all the precautionary steps that we need to take.
Fidaa Shurrab: Coping and resilience is very important.
Fidaa Shurrab: This pandemic has affected so many people psychologically.
Fidaa Shurrab: Still, those who are affected by the virus do suffer from the stereotyping and people
Fidaa Shurrab: would be afraid from communicating with them even after they heal from the virus.
Fidaa Shurrab: But, also combating those stereotypes is very important.
Matthias Jochmann: I may ask, how does religion help you or influence you in coping with this and other crisis?
Fidaa Shurrab: You know, faith is very important in coping.
Fidaa Shurrab: To have faith is very important, actually.
Fidaa Shurrab: Being a Muslim, our religion has taught us to always have faith in Allah's destinies.
Fidaa Shurrab: So yes, it helps us every, in every difficult situation.
Fidaa Shurrab: Even if it's in the personal level or at the community level or the country level, we used to pray, so that any difficulties will be vanished anytime soon.
Fidaa Shurrab: So faith do help us very much.
Fidaa Shurrab: This pandemic, the precautionary measures of the pandemic depend only on hygienic acts.
Fidaa Shurrab: And our religion.
Fidaa Shurrab: We have several steps, several advices, on hygienic acts so that we are always clean and healthy.
Fidaa Shurrab: We wash our hands in a certain way , with faces, our legs and everything.
Fidaa Shurrab: So it did help, and everything is connected.
Fidaa Shurrab: I believe that faith, religion to help any crisis.
Fidaa Shurrab: In the Gaza Strip, yes, we are the Muslim community, but we enjoy a very decent life.
Fidaa Shurrab: it's not very restricted.
Fidaa Shurrab: We do go to the schools.
Fidaa Shurrab: We do go to the universities.
Fidaa Shurrab: We do enjoy our hobbies, we do this recreational activities, so, we do enjoy our life.
Fidaa Shurrab: The stereotypes of the Gaza Strip, that we are a very restricted community, we have so many forbiddens.
Fidaa Shurrab: Yes, we have some kind of forbiddens from, let me say, wrong acts as any kind of religion.
Fidaa Shurrab: Like the Christians, like the Jewish religion.
Fidaa Shurrab: So, but, we do enjoy our life.
Fidaa Shurrab: Being a Muslim doesn't mean that we don't enjoy life, or we don't like living, being Muslim helps us, our faith helps us very much.
Matthias Jochmann: Could you, like, describe for people who don't know about the Gaza Strip describe for
Matthias Jochmann: people who don't know about the Gaza Strip, how much was traveling for you possible before the pandemic?
Fidaa Shurrab: traveling is very challenging here in the Gaza Strip.
Fidaa Shurrab: We need to do so many procedures.
Fidaa Shurrab: We have two ways of traveling either through Erez checkpoint that leads to Israel.
Fidaa Shurrab: And then we travel through Jordan.
Fidaa Shurrab: Or either by, through the Egyptian border, Rafah border.
Fidaa Shurrab: Both cases are very difficult.
Fidaa Shurrab: You should register like six months before we travel and do so many procedures.
Fidaa Shurrab: Not like any country, and you wait and and you don't know if you get the chance to travel or not.
Fidaa Shurrab: Traveling through Rafah border, for those who travel from Rafah or coming through Rafah, do
Fidaa Shurrab: spend like week, in the streets before getting into Egypt, because of the political situation.
Fidaa Shurrab: The humanitarian situation would be very difficult for the people who are traveling.
Fidaa Shurrab: Actually for me, I would not take the decision to travel, throw Rafah border, because it would be difficult at the humanitarian level.
Fidaa Shurrab: It would also insecure to stay like in a empty place, like Sinai, desert, and no place to go, sitting in the cars.
Fidaa Shurrab: No access to water, no access to toilets, no access to food.
Fidaa Shurrab: It would be very difficult.
Fidaa Shurrab: Traveling through Erez checkpoint do also require a very strict procedures.
Fidaa Shurrab: We have to coordinate with the Israeli side to get the permission.
Fidaa Shurrab: We have to get the permission from the Jordanian side as well.
Fidaa Shurrab: For myself, I was invited twice to travel to Jordan for a training course.
Fidaa Shurrab: I get the Jordanian permission, but I did not get the permission from the Israeli side.
Fidaa Shurrab: So I couldn't travel.
Fidaa Shurrab: So, it's very challenging and you never know, if you are going to travel or not, it's, it's all a matter of possibilities.
Fidaa Shurrab: You plan for traveling, but you don't know when and how you are going to be traveling.
Fidaa Shurrab: And you have to think a million times before deciding to travel.
Fidaa Shurrab: Those who do have studies abroad or do or have, some kind of trainings or, obligated with work contracts abroad.
Matthias Jochmann: So, I'm wondering if you follow like news or anything from, let me say the global North, or for example, Europe.
Matthias Jochmann: So now, especially in summertime, it seems like to some people the biggest concern is that they cannot travel.
Matthias Jochmann: So thinking of your situation - what do you think about this?
Fidaa Shurrab: yes.
Fidaa Shurrab: This is our right, to enjoy, the movement of, the freedom of movement.
Fidaa Shurrab: Yes, we don't enjoy this privilege actually.
Fidaa Shurrab: And I wish sometimes it is much easier to take a decision so that I can go, for example, on Eid-holidays, we have like nine days or seven days.
Fidaa Shurrab: We don't have anywhere to go except being in the Gaza strip, visiting our relatives, going to the seaside.
Fidaa Shurrab: But, actually thinking of the people living abroad, when it comes to long holidays, they have plans of traveling, visiting new countries, visiting new places.
Fidaa Shurrab: But then we don't have this right.
Fidaa Shurrab: Now we seek traveling for important issues, but also it's our right to seek traveling for entertainment.
Fidaa Shurrab: For tourism purpose.
Fidaa Shurrab: But we don't have this privilege.
Fidaa Shurrab: But yes, it is our right, too.
Fidaa Shurrab: And we think, and we all talk sometimes, like, for example, I would like to travel to Aswan, and visit those places in Aswan, but I can't.
Fidaa Shurrab: And I think million times before taking the decision, yes, I want to go for a trip to travel, for visiting a country.
Fidaa Shurrab: Unless it's important.
Fidaa Shurrab: I won't take a decision off of traveling because I'll be suffering on both ways, going out and going and yeah.
Matthias Jochmann: Mm, thank you.
Matthias Jochmann: Now coming back the pandemic and how it influences the life in Gaza.
Matthias Jochmann: how do you envision or how do you imagine the next upcoming months to be.
Fidaa Shurrab: Living in Gaza.
Fidaa Shurrab: You can't predict the situation.
Fidaa Shurrab: We do have this saying, we don't know what will be happening.
Fidaa Shurrab: We Plan, but we don't know if this is the right plan or not.
Fidaa Shurrab: And now with the pandemic is one of the things that we should plan to overcome it.
Fidaa Shurrab: And now we have this pandemic and we have also the political situation, is being deteriorated in the last two days.
Fidaa Shurrab: So I can't predict what will be happening in the future, because it has been allways the case.
Fidaa Shurrab: Okay.
Fidaa Shurrab: We plan to, continue, the way we're living, hoping that things will be much better.
Fidaa Shurrab: The siege will be lifted up, the borders are open, but this is all, let me say dreams, became dreams.
Fidaa Shurrab: Not something that you worked for and to achieve.
Fidaa Shurrab: We hope.
Fidaa Shurrab: But I can't predict what's coming, this is the way we live in Gaza.
Fidaa Shurrab: We can't predict what's coming Because one day we're good.
Fidaa Shurrab: The other day we're faced with a war, for example, Air strikes, and now we have the pandemic.
Fidaa Shurrab: So nothing is predictable
Matthias Jochmann: Okay.
Matthias Jochmann: Do you have any question for me?
Fidaa Shurrab: Yes.
Fidaa Shurrab: So you were in the West Bank, and you, as I have understood from you, and now you're in Germany.
Fidaa Shurrab: So how do people in Germany now face the pandemic?
Matthias Jochmann: So I'm back in Germany since end of March.
Matthias Jochmann: And I think it changed a lot since then.
Matthias Jochmann: So when I had just arrived.
Matthias Jochmann: It was kind of the, maybe so far, the worst moment or the worst period in Germany and numbers were going very high.
Matthias Jochmann: And politics were very strict and then gradually they lifted these restrictions again, more and more.
Matthias Jochmann: And now the situation is that you basically can move freely.
Matthias Jochmann: You can travel.
Matthias Jochmann: And the numbers have pretty low for a long time.
Matthias Jochmann: But now in the last two to three weeks, they're increasing and everyone, or let's say many people are sure that there will be a
Matthias Jochmann: second wave, because now so many people felt or still feel very safe, going to different countries, have family gatherings, parties.
Matthias Jochmann: Weddings and so on again.
Matthias Jochmann: So we had some weeks where the infection rate was maybe 300-400 , and the last four or five days it has been more than than 1,500.
Matthias Jochmann: So, currently we can still move freely, but me personally, I unfortunately do expect that there will be new restrictions.
Fidaa Shurrab: So our hopes goes that, medicine would be discovered soon and issued before it is being a very difficult situation for all the countries.
Fidaa Shurrab: Yes.
Matthias Jochmann: Fidaa and I recorded this conversation on August 19 of 2020.
Matthias Jochmann: A week later, on August 25 I received an email by Fidaa, mentioning the first Corona-cases outside the designated quarantine areas and within the gaza-strip.
Matthias Jochmann: For the last ten days, Gaza has been exposed to daily air strikes and expected political escalations, adding to that, the siege has been further tightened up.
Matthias Jochmann: Only few goods and medications are being allowed into the Gaza Strip.
Matthias Jochmann: There is an acute shortage in fuel that operates the electricity station, as it is not allowed into Gaza.
Matthias Jochmann: The people in Gaza live in darkness with only 3-4 hours of electricity per day.
Matthias Jochmann: Yesterday, a new grave situation hit Gaza.
Matthias Jochmann: A total of 4 COVID-19 cases were reported in the community, with high risk that they have interacted a large number of people.
Matthias Jochmann: The responsible parties have announced high level of emergency situation and a-48 hours of complete lockdown was forced to limit the outbreak of the virus
Matthias Jochmann: in the community, since the health system in Gaza is already curtailed due to the siege and will be a challenge to deal with high numbers of infected people.
Matthias Jochmann: Up to the beginning of October there were more than 3000 positive Corona-cases spread in the Gaza Strip.
Matthias Jochmann: And the lockdown continued.
Matthias Jochmann: We will hear how Fidaa experienced this stressful period when talking to her again in the second season.
Matthias Jochmann: In the following episode of Record of CHange we will hear McKenzie Roller from the United States.
Matthias Jochmann: MCkenzie just graduated from Highschool and find her plans put upside down.
Matthias Jochmann: However, she's confident to tackle the challenges she now faces.
Matthias Jochmann: Follow us on your favourite Podcast provider, and find out more about the stories behind on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube or our website, recordofchange.com.
Matthias Jochmann: This podcast is implemented with and by members of the Bosch Alumni Network, a community that brings together
Matthias Jochmann: former and current fellows, grantees and staff members of the Robert Bosch Stiftung and its partners.