IDEALS Involvement in the Care of Disabled in Gaza

The picture heading this article was painted by Mark a severely disabled 52 year old man. Despite being in a wheel chair and unable to speak he portrays his vibrant personality with the dynamic painting. He contributes much to the lives of those who know him --especially his family. Mark is fortunate to live in a country which expresses its civilisation by caring for him as well as possible. Unfortunately chronically disabled individuals or those with continuing disease are the hidden victims of war. The world responds to acute problems but the exacerbation of the plight of those who need constant care is often forgotten. Sometimes this is shown in the lack of drugs for illnesses such as diabetes while at other times it is the failure of the war torn country to provide equipment or therapy to those, like Mark. IDEALS believes that it is entirely appropriate and according to its foundation mission statement, to look beyond the care of the acutely injured and to consider the long term problems of war by assisting with patients suffering from conditions like cerebral palsy and other neurological problems. Dr Andrew Ferguson visited Gaza along with John Beavis in early 2011 and have identified specific projects for which we hope to raise funds and will be described in separate articles on this website.