Aug, 2015
My name is Dina Shawwa. I work for Palestine Medical Relief Society (PMRS).
I am 40 years old and I have worked here for 14 years. I prepare all pharmaceutical orders and distribute drugs to all six PMRS clinics. It’s a lot of work but I love it. And, I can feel how much I’ve grown professionally as a pharmacist at PMRS because of all the experiences I’ve had.
One of my biggest challenges was working in a war zone and having to leave my small children at home to go to work and serve my community in such difficult and dangerous times.
It saddens me to say that the health situation in Gaza is so, so very miserable. We lack medical equipment and medicine in particular, but we have no alternatives. What can we do?
We would be so lost without organizations like Anera, who have been helping for the past eight years to supply us with vital medicines despite three wars and the blockade.
One of my biggest challenges was working in a war zone and having to leave my small children at home to go to work and serve my community in such difficult and dangerous times.
We cannot raise our expectations very much at all when faced with all that but the efforts of organizations like Anera offer us a glimmer of hope.
I only wish we could join hands with private and international institutions to find a sustainable strategy to be prepared to deal with the Gaza health crisis and respond to emergencies. I say this because we don’t believe these emergencies will ever end. But we all hope for better conditions and a robust health care system to meet the needs of our community.
