Weekend of coffee breaks boosts Gaza healthcentre fund

People across Wales were invited to wake up and smell the coffee to boost vital healthcare for families in a devastated district of Gaza last weekend.

From coffee breaks with colleagues at work to cuppas after church services or on shopping trips, thousands of people took part in "Wales' Biggest Coffee Morning" over this Bank Holiday weekend.

All the money raised will go to the Church in Wales’ Jubilee Fund to restock and rebuild a family health centre in Gaza which was destroyed by bombs in January. The centre is the only such provision for 70,000 people living in a poor district of Gaza City. It provides ante- and post- natal care, a well-baby clinic, a pharmacy, and is the base for a mobile dental clinic which is completely funded by the Church in Wales.

The Archdeacon of Margam, the Ven Philip Morris, who co-ordinates the Jubilee Fund, was among those taking part.

He said, “The mobile dental clinic is such a familiar sight in the districts of Gaza City in which it works, with its red dragon so prominent on the sides and the front. The actual dental clinic, which we have been funding for nearly a decade now, was not damaged in the attack, but all its equipment and medicines were lost.

“The clinic is now operating out of a borrowed house – the work will continue, there is such determination by the Near East Council of Churches to fulfil its vision of helping create a Palestinian society in Gaza where people receive adequate health and educational services and enjoy a better quality of life.

“This is its Christian commitment to the people of Gaza – by raising funds for the Shaja’ia Family Health Centre and the mobile dental clinic, we can be a source of strength for the continuation of Christian witness and presence in the Gaza Strip.”

Constantine Dabbagh, executive secretary of the Near East Council of Churches, said, “The situation here is still vulnerable and chaotic. The borders are still closed and the siege is still being imposed with little entry of 'humanitarian' supplies. No raw and construction materials and thousands of other items are allowed entry by the Israeli occupying authority.

“The various activities and services, including the mobile dental clinic at the family health care and vocational training centres, are being conducted at the maximum levels but we still encounter shortages of fuel, cooking gas and materials and equipment and cut of power. We are very grateful for all the support we are receiving from the people of Wales.”

So far the fund has raised more than £45,000.

Last week the Governing Body of the Church in Wales passed a motion to “express its sympathy to the Near East Council of Churches and the people of the Shija’ia district of Gaza City at the destruction of its Family Health Centre by an Israeli missile on 10 January 2009”.