MAP's Bedouin Appeal
20 October 2011
In the UK, people always have first aid kits close to hand and trained emergency services that can reach them rapidly. The Bedouin people of the Jordan Valley have no such access to readily available healthcare, yet they live in one of the most hostile environments on earth.
As a consultant working for MAP in the Jordan Valley, I have worked amongst the Bedouin people for four years and have developed the utmost respect for this marginalised community. Hemmed in by Israeli settlements and landmines, they have had little choice but to make their encampments in only 1% of the land available in 'Area C' of the West Bank, which encompasses the Jordan Valley. Even then, their homes are under continuous threat and often razed to the ground by Israeli bulldozers. Now the Israeli administration has announced its intention to forcibly evict all Bedouin from Area C.
I have seen the basic rights of these traditionally nomadic people eroded to the point where they are no longer free to roam at all. Their access to shelter, education, clean water and adequate food supplies is severely restricted, but - as a doctor - it is the lack of rapid access to medical care that concerns me most.
We urgently need to train at least 100 Bedouin in emergency first aid and to issue them with simple kits to keep in their communities. Please will you give £50 today, which could provide a first aid kits for Bedouin encampments isolated in the Jordan Valley?
The Bedouin people who live here are extremely vulnerable and the situation is getting worse. There have been more demolitions - and subsequent displacements - in the first half of 2011 than there were in the whole of 2009 or 20101. Right now, around 27,000 people living in 28 Bedouin encampments in the Jordan Valley rely on one mobile health clinic for all their medical needs. And without MAP's intervention, they wouldn't even have that.
Last year, in response to the lack of primary health services for the Bedouin people, MAP launched an emergency appeal to buy, equip and run a mobile health clinic. I have seen first-hand how important the medical treatment and advice this mobile clinic dispenses is to the Bedouin people. However, the mobile clinic can only ever be in one encampment at a time.
That's why simple first aid kits, coupled with the right training, will be so valuable for this community. First aid knowledge and treatment saves lives. It's as simple as that. With your help, we will empower 100 people to be able to treat and stabilise injuries themselves. What's more, they'll also gain new health and safety awareness to help identify risks and prevent injuries in the first place.
We have plans in place to run eight first aid training courses with 12 to 14 participants each at a cost of around £50 per person. Will you please consider donating £50 to help fund this important training for one person?
If this training had been in place a few years ago, a young man I used to know might still be alive today. Imran was only 21 when he was shot in the upper thigh by Israeli soldiers. His friends pulled him from the scene and embarked on the long journey to the hospital in Bethlehem, but they didn't know how to stop the bleeding. By the time they reached the hospital, Imran was dead.2
This story would be tragic enough if the shot to Imran's thigh was fatal, but it wasn't. He bled to death for the simple reason that no-one knew how to stop the blood flow. It probably goes without saying that this will be one of the key life-saving skills we will be teaching in our training courses.
Initially, we will be giving first aid training to 75 Bedouin women and 25 Bedouin men. All 100 people will become key figures in their community and will pass their knowledge on to other Bedouin with the help of special training manuals. If you could send a particularly generous donation today it would pay for the vital training manuals we will provide for the Bedouin communities.
Of course, not everyone in the Jordan Valley is denied basic healthcare services. The Israeli settlers have complete access to the wider Israeli infrastructure and resources - including emergency first aid treatment.
Until this appalling disparity comes to an end, I am confident that MAP's first aid programme is the most cost-effective and practical way of giving the Bedouin community the basic resources and training they need to care for their own people - wherever they end up - and to make the difference between life and death.
If you agree, I hope you will feel able to donate today. Please accept my heartfelt thanks for anything you can give.
Dr Majed Nassar MD, MA
MAP Consultant
