CARE is Implementing Health Project in the Remote Village of Bardala, with Funding from the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid Department 12 June 2006. Firial Sawaftah lives in Bardala village. She is 31 years old and she has three children: Yara, 4, Qusay, 2 ½, and Omar, 8 months. Firial is saying that for herself and people in her village, “we did not have sufficient medical care in the past. A doctor used to come for ½ an hour and we all had to see him, so I was worried about my children. Children and older people were suffering and we had no lab testing.” Now things are changing to the better, and Firial is saying: “I find the services in the village Clinic excellent. I cannot travel for treatment elsewhere even if my infant child is ill, and I used to take the risk and leave him without medical care.” Firial’s husband, Ahmad, is selling vegetables on the road-side between the Jordan Valley and Jenin, and his income is very low, but there are no jobs in the area. According to Firial: “we cover our expenses on day-to-day basis and we try to meet only our minimum needs. We eat from the vegetables Ahmad is selling but he has five partners in the vegetable stand. We decreased our family expenses in food, social visits, clothing, and toys for our children. Our children are totally deprived, so the psychological pressure on us is very hard. The checkpoint here is very bad, but at least now we have medical care.” Firial came to the Bardala Clinic to treat her youngest son Omar. He has infection and he is vomiting, and the doctor gave him Aquasal and Acamole, and Firial is hoping her son will recover soon. Dr. Jamal Hamarsheh is treating patients in the small clinic in Bardala village. He thinks that Omar caught a virus. Omar lost two kilos in one week, so Dr. Hamarsheh wants to conduct lab testing to decide what medicine to subscribe to the infant boy. Firial is among the lucky people that can make it to the clinic. Bardala is a small village, population 3000, on the outskirts of Jenin but it sits in the Jordan Valley. The slow-paced atmosphere of Bardala, and the lack of jobs, are indicative of the political uncertainty regarding the future of the village. Bardala is located in the West Bank, but according to the Israeli unilateral plan for separation, the Jordan Valley will not be returned to Palestinians including the land where Bardala is located. Often times the water and electricity, supplied by Israel, are cut from Bardala. Also, the people of Bardala cannot travel freely to nearby Jenin where they can sell their agricultural produce, and they are not allowed to travel freely to Israel either. In order to travel, villagers from Bardala must go first to the Israeli military checkpoint, and they have to take long roads in all sorts of directions. Since August 2005, CARE West Bank and Gaza, with funding from the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid Department, is implementing a Health Project with mobile clinics in Bardala and other such villages. The clinic building is owned by the Village Council, but CARE painted the walls, brought closets, desks, and medical tools. Based on the need in Bardala, CARE took the initiative and sought the participation of two NGOs, the Health Work Committee and the Palestinian Medical Relief Society, and the Ministry of Health. CARE led the needs assessment process. Accordingly, every Wednesday the village clinic is now offering medical services to 34 cases of illness such as skin infections, respiratory infections, poor hygiene illness, chronic bronchial asthma, insect bites, and trauma. On Mondays, a Women's Health Doctor is available in the clinic. Approximately 16 women come for treatment on any given Monday. Those are women farmers that cannot travel for treatment and they have health problems related to infections, pregnancy, and common colds and headaches among pregnant women. Travel permits are in short supply, and husbands do not allow their wives to go to other villages because of the checkpoints. Sometimes women give birth at home because they do not have travel permits, and the only medical follow-up with them is through the Health Project funded by the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid Department. According to Dr. Hamarsheh in the Bardala Clinic: “we are facing major problems when a woman is in labor, so we carry her to the checkpoint if an ambulance is available.” Himself, Dr. Hamarsheh was educated in Romania, but he returned to his country, and as he said it: “I am helping my people, and I am offering medical care to people that cannot go through the checkpoint to hospitals elsewhere.” Dr. Hamarsheh had attended CARE training in emergency care, chronic diseases, breast feeding, and rational drug use. Dr Hamarsheh said: “now I know how to decide what medicine to give the patient and not to waste resources and medicine, and to refrain from using medicines that are outdated. Also the type of medicine I am using is rationalized, and I choose inexpensive medicine.” CARE selected the doctors that offered the training. The Bardala Clinic has a Lab that opens on Sundays. The Technician is conducting routine testing, blood sugar testing, children’s anemia, hepatitis among women and children, and with women he is testing for infections. CARE is covering the salary of the Lab Technician. Bardala clinic has an ultrasound machine, and the Lab in the clinic is offering valuable help to Bardala women. Also the clinic is conducting awareness-raising programs, home visits, and post natal family planning. In Bardala, women are beginning to learn about family planning. Samah Daragmeh is a young nurse that works in the Bardala Clinic, and she has some revolutionary ideas by local standards. She visits women in their homes and talks to them about family planning, then she goes to the fields where the men are working and she also talks to them about family planning, which is unprecedented in the isolated and conservative community of Bardala. Samah said: “I tell the men that having 15 children is bad for the health of their wives.” Samah is saying that: “since October 2005 we made an impact on women and we know that.” Samah added “most men will not understand because they are not educated. I break the barriers with them and I get to know them first. Then I explain to them the objectives of family planning. CARE is helping me financially through the Health Project.” Samah speaks with calm and confidence about her work, and does not seem to bother that she is a women addressing taboo issues in her society. According to Islam Al-Hijjaw, of CARE’s Field Office in Jenin, “we facilitate the work of nurses like Samah. We offer them training in topics such as skin disease, rational drug use, and careful handling of patients, and we provide them with medicine too.” There is one mobile clinic in Bardala as part of CARE’s Health Project with the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid Department, and this valuable medical service is implemented with partner NGOs and the Ministry of Health. The well-equipped van is stationed in Bardala Clinic and the people are aware of that. Local society was consulted on decisions pertaining to the presence and use of the mobile clinic. Samah, the Nurse, tells the story of a family that has three daughters that are 10, 16, and 18 years old, and they are diabetic and their father is schizophrenic. Through activities of the mobile clinic and home visits, Samah started educating the three girls about diabetes. Now they are helping her as volunteers during workshops and first aid training. Also during field visits, Samah discovered Minor Thalasemia among children in Al-Fara’ Refugee Camp. Those were children of 10 – 16 years old. Samah informed their parents, and she explained to them that their children cannot take iron, must follow a specific diet, and they cannot marry someone with Minor Thalasemia. For more information, please contact Ayman Shuaibi - shuaibi@carewbg.org