By Yasmine El-Sabawi
WASHINGTON, Sept 17 (KUNA) -- Kuwait Ambassador to Washington Sheikh Salem Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah presented on Wednesday a USD 1 million donation for American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA) to help the Palestinian children.
The organization enjoys a long partnership with the State of Kuwait in building schools for, and supplying medicines, food and clothing to, the Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, and refugee camps in Jordan and Lebanon.
The Ambassador lauded ANERA's rebuilding efforts following the latest Israeli assault on Gaza, and in a statement provided to KUNA, stressed Kuwait's humanitarian role, especially in the Middle East, where His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah continues to assist the Palestinians both inside and outside the occupied territories.
"This donation is dedicated to the reestablishment of schools, and to provide milk to kindergarten students, coinciding with the start of the new school year," the Ambassador said.
"The contribution to ANERA comes in the wake of the honor bestowed by the Secretary General of the United Nations Ban ki-Moon on His Highness the Amir, designating him as 'Global Humanitarian Leader' and Kuwait a 'Global Humanitarian Center.'
"It also follows the historic visit by Kuwait's Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah to the State of Palestine, where he met with the President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas and visited the city of Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque," the Ambassador added.
Today's donation marks the fourth time Kuwait has contributed funds to ANERA, something President and CEO Bill Corcoran described as "really helpful" after the destruction he witnessed during his trip to Gaza in recent weeks.
"Sadly we've had to use a good chunk of the money just to rebuild what's been destroyed in Gaza," he told KUNA.
"So we'll try to start over again. But the Amir's been great, we've used the money to build preschools, run the preschool program, and we've done over -- I think it's 150 preschools," he pointed out.
ANERA has also shipped in "hundreds of thousands of shoes for children, because some of them are barefoot," he said.
"We've been running programs to remove parasites from small children. Some of it has just been as basic as food - we've been feeding some children because the malnutrition is horrible there.
"Anemia and stunting is about 15 percent of the population, so we're starting with the most vulnerable, and we also work with their mothers, because it's key," he said.
In 2013, ANERA delivered USD 12 million worth of medicine into Gaza.
"We have a large medical program that allows us to bring in first-rate medicines produced here in the States, but we're able to get them in through the Israeli ports, and then into Gaza, and we cooperate with about 30 clinics," said Corcoran.
"So (Kuwait's) support is really helpful, because it allows us not to wait, not to have to raise the money. We've got it now, and we can immediately start."
The organization's work goes back some 46 years, and it has 85 staff members in five offices across Gaza and the West Bank. All but one are locally-hired Palestinians.
ANERA receives funds from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Department of State, along with the State of Kuwait, corporate donors, and contributions from regular Americans.
"We felt we just wanted to show the generosity of Americans to Arabs and particularly Palestinians, and this was the way we could do it," Corcoran went on.
"We fundraise with thousands of Americans, and I would note that over half of the people who give are not Arab Americans in descent -- They just see a need for this because it's a matter of justice to them," he added. (end)
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