QC Rehabilitates 7 Artesian Aquifers in Somalia

Through its office in the Strip and in cooperation with Ghaith for Relief and Development, QC has recently started implementing ‘Providing Drinking Water’ project to the poor. More than 3,000 poor families are expected to benefit from it. It will take around 8 months for the project to be implemented at a cost of 262,000 QR.

Kidney Diseases

The Municipalities in the Strip provide the citizens with salty water only, which could cause many different diseases such as kidney diseases. Therefore, QC decided to implement this project in order to provide the poor families with good drinking water.

Eng. Mohammed Abu Halloub, QC’s Office Director in the Strip, said that this project is being implemented because QC wants to alleviate the sufferings of those who cannot afford to get good drinking water, and to prevent the diseases spread because of water pollution. He also emphasized the fact that water projects are on the top QC’s priorities’ list since the siege and the attacks on the Strip have destroyed all of the water networks, which were not even sufficient.

QC, as he also mentioned, will not spare an effort until it has helped the needy families and offered a good living opportunities for the needy; whether through relief or development projects.

Water Crisis

The Strip’s aquifer is both polluted and empty which made the Strip suffer from a dire water crisis. As a result, the Gazan families who are financially stable buy filtered water, while the poor families still use the brackish water provided by the municipalities.

To help face this crisis, QC is implementing a project to filter rainwater and to inject it into the aquifer in around 30 public schools.

The UN had already warned from the worsening situation of water in the Strip. According to the UN’s report, if the current conditions remain the same, the situation in 2016 will be catastrophic. The Strip is in great need for desalination plants a hundred times more than roads.

Reconstruction of Gaza

After all the destruction and wreckage the last aggression on the Strip caused, QC spared no effort to help rebuild the Strip.

More than 2,000 people were martyred during the aggression, 11,200 were injured, and thousands of families, whose houses were demolished, were displaced. Furthermore, many infrastructure facilities such as roads, hospitals, schools, and factories were destroyed.

The last brutal attack on the Gaza Strip caused the loss of so many people, houses, and facilities. 2,139 were martyred: 579 of them were children, 264 of them were women, and 102 were elders. 11,200 people were injured: 25% of them became handicapped. 1,000 children became permanently disabled. 2,088 women, 3,374 children and 410 old people were injured. 1,200 families lost their breadwinners. 90 families were entirely eliminated and 49 massacres were executed.

In addition, 466,000 citizens were displaced, 2,360 houses were completely destroyed, 13,644 houses were partly destroyed, 30,000 workers lost their jobs, and 134 factories were completely demolished. The destruction of Gaza cost a financial loss of 3,500,000,000 USD.

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• Hundreds of goats were distributed to the people to help them start over.
• Tens of hectares were restored for 250 families whose lands had been flooded.

As part of its early relief program to the victims of floods in the Middle Shebelle governorate in Somalia, QC implemented qualitative income-generating projects from which 400 families of the same governorate benefited.

Rehabilitation:

The projects included rehabilitation of the affected families and improvement of their life quality, in addition to supporting agriculture and shepherding. The program also included funding income-generating projects. For example, 750 goats were distributed to 150 families. Each family received 5 goats. This project was to enable them to get their ordinary lives back after the floods. The project also aimed at supporting shepherding and providing these families with a source of income that matched their previous professions.

QC has also restored agricultural lands in a total area of 250 hectares for 250 families who had worked in farming before the floods damaged their lands.

QC seeks to rehabilitate the agricultural and shepherding societies and start agricultural and shepherding businesses by supplying the workers with seeds and pesticides as well as manual cultivation instruments needed for local production. QC also helps them in their farmland restoration, and irrigation canals’ reformation. The program also supplied them with some cattle.

Terrible Immigration

The regions adjacent to the two rivers of Shebelle and Juba witnessed heavy rains in last October and November which led to the flooding of the rivers and caused a disastrous immigration of the inhabitants of the rivers’ banks. Middle Shebelle was mostly affected as most irrigation canals and flood control systems were damaged along the Shebelle River by these floods. Reports show that about 10,000 of the local inhabitants left their flooded cities, villages, and farms.

The objective QC had of the early relief project was to reach the local affected community in the governorate as it helped rehabilitate them in their crafts and professions. QC’s goal was to enable them to increase their daily income and enhance their life quality through a number of strategic projects including shops, production machinery, animals, and farmland restoration. This should facilitate their future confrontation to yearly floods. This project also seeks to restore artesian aquifers, reform schools and damaged clinics to help 93,000 people living in the region.

Tens of Thousands Beneficiaries

It is worth mentioning that QC has recently implemented various projects in Somalia including education, health, building mosques, and funding income-generating projects. Tens of thousands of Somalis around Somalia benefited from these projects. Of its construction projects in Puntland, QC inaugurated the reformation of 2 health centers and 2 preliminary schools at a cost of about 292,000 QR.

QC inaugurated the opening of 9 mosques, and 8 centers for memorization of Qur’an in 3 provinces in the north of Somalia: 3 mosques in the coastal province, 3 others in Burco, 1 in Awdal, and 2 in Hiran and Banaadir. It also built 8 centers for Qur’an memorization in Hiran, Banaadir, and Hargeisa. Thousands of Somalis shall benefit from these mosques and centers.

QC office in Somalia has also organized events of distributing sewing machines to 65 productive families in Mogadishu and Hargeisa city in Somaliland in cooperation with Jedoon Association for Woman and Child Development in Hargeisa and HINNA association in Mogadishu.

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• The aids are sufficient for the refugees and returnees for a month
• Members of the Somali Parliament and Representatives of the Yemeni community contributed in the distribution

Through its office in Somalia and as part of its relief campaign “Yemen, We are With You”, QC implemented an urgent relief project which targeted 600 families of the Yemeni refugees in Somalia and some of the Somali returnees from Yemen who are living in Mogadishu, Hargeisa, and Bosaso.

The food baskets, distributed to the beneficiaries, were sufficient for a whole month. Each family received 25 kg of rice, 25 kg of flour, 15 kg of sugar, 3 liters of cooking oil, 2.5 kg of powder milk, and 2 kg of dates.

Prominent Figures

Many prominent figures took part in the distribution of the aids to the people, including some members of the Somali parliament, and the representatives of the Yemeni community in Somalia. They all commended QC’s role in helping the Yemeni and Somali peoples.

This is one of so many other projects in which QC continues to fulfill its role in aiding and helping others. In addition, QC always makes sure that its beneficiaries are the neediest. The Yemeni people are suffering from a dire crisis which forced the families to emigrate and ask for asylum. This, of course, left the families without any living necessities. 

Although Somalia is suffering from hard conditions and security issues, it became one of the countries which received the Yemeni refugees. Therefore, it is now the responsibility of those who work in charity and humanitarian fields to strengthen their efforts so that Somalia does not suffer from a critical condition, too. 

130,000 Beneficiaries

130,000 beneficiaries benefited from QC’s continuous campaign ‘Yemen, We Are with You’ since the recent Yemen crisis started and until the end of last May (2015).

The food aid included 17,300 food baskets, 80 tons of flour, and 180 tons of different types of food which were distributed to the different governorates. Furthermore, 3 kitchens were prepared and equipped with foodstuff to provide daily fresh meals for 1,000 persons. Regarding healthcare, the hospitals of Aden, Ma’rib, and Taiz were supplied with some equipment, 100 first-aid bags, and a large amount of medications, and medical disposables.

In addition, 8 water tanks were distributed in Aden with the capacity of 1,000 liters.  QC also distributed hundreds of mattresses and blankets to the displaced families there. Another project was funded to clean Aden Municipality in cooperation with its workers. 

Call for Help

It is worth mentioning that when the Yemeni crisis started, QC appealed for help to provide 1,260,000 conflict-affected people with food, and medications.

After its appeal and as a first step, QC launched its campaign ‘Yemen, We Are with You’ to collect 36,500,000 QR (10,000,000 USD) to urgently deliver these humanitarian aids to the most affected categories.

QC also supervised the distribution of aids which Qatar sent to the people of Yemen. The aids were delivered through an air bridge from Doha to Djibouti–Ambouli International Airport following the instructions of his highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, God bless him. The aids were delivered over two days; there were 4 airplanes which carried 240 tons of different materials.

The aids were received by a delegation of QC which included Mr. Ibrahim Ali Abdullah, QC's Relief Department Director, and Mohammed Wa'i, QC's Office Director in Yemen.

QC’s field team was able to aid many conflict-affected families since the crisis first started in Aden and other Yemeni cities. They provided the families with food, drugs, and medical disposables. They sent the medical supplies to the hospitals so that they would treat the injured. The team also provided the families with food baskets and other basic and necessary items.

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• 43,200 conflict-affected in Syria, 4,200 orphans’ families in Gaza, 120,000 people from different countries benefited from ‘Your Sacrifice, their Eid’ campaign
• El Kuwairi: “We thank the Qatari people for donating to our sacrifices project which made the needy of 52 countries the world over happy

Around 1,000,000 people benefited from the sacrifices campaign for the year 1436 AH which QC implemented and called ‘Your Sacrifices, their Eid’ at a cost of around 14,000,000 QR.

Mr. Youssef Bin Ahmed El Kuwairi, QC’s CEO, expressed the relief he felt because the sacrifices project was successful. QC implemented this campaign with the help of its partners in 52 countries from around the world, including Qatar. It was able to make so many needy and low-income families, who could not provide their children with meat, happy.

The affected who suffered from exceptional circumstances were prioritized such as the Syrians inside Syria, the Syrian refugees in the neighboring countries, the Gaza Strip, Yemen, Somalia, etc.

El Kuwairi said, “I am mostly thankful to those who donated for this project in Qatar, and I pray Allah that He accept their good work and reward them. Most certainly, their donations were the reason behind making the needy happy and achieving social teamwork in Qatar.”

QC had already distributed more than 28,300 sacrifices during the season, which meant 500 tons of meat in 52 countries. More than 43,200 families inside Syria benefited from the project. It was implemented in Damascus and its countryside, Idlib and its countryside, Al Rastan, Al Houla and Talbiseh in the countryside of Aleppo, in the countrysides of Hama, of Lattakia, of Daraa, and Quneitra. In addition, 4,200 orphans’ families from the Gaza Strip and 120,000 Somalis benefited from the project.

Other countries in which the project was implemented:

Palestine, the Palestinian camps abroad, Iraq, Jordan, Qatar, Tunisia, Morocco, Lebanon, Sudan, Rwanda, Uganda, Malawi, Burundi, Kenya, Ivory Coast, Djibouti, Tanzania, Mali, Togo, Nepal, India, Chad, Central Africa, Angola, Guinea Bissau, Mauritania, Yemen, Bangladesh, Benin , The Gambia, Namibia, Lesotho, Sri Lanka, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Congo, South Africa, Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan , Indonesia, Kosovo, Comoros Islands, Albania, the Philippines, Ghana, Bosnia, Ethiopia, and Georgia.

QC inaugurated a special campaign for pilgrimage and Eid Al Adha for this year (1436 AH). It included distributing the sacrifices inside and outside Qatar, giving people the chance to perform substitute Hajj, and distributing Eid clothing. Tens of thousands of people will benefit from this project.

The project was also implemented inside Qatar on the third and fourth days of Eid Al Adha. 2,500 sacrifices were distributed from which 12,000 people benefited, including 668 sponsored families with limited income.

Some of the Qatari volunteers helped in the distribution. In addition, QC, for the first time, offered delivery service using refrigerated cars. The sacrifices were given to the beneficiaries at their homes in Khor, Al-Shahaniya, Industrial Area (Sanaiya), and other areas inside Qatar.

This project also targeted the orphans’ and the low-income families, the indebted, the laborers, the divorced, Ramila Hospital’s inpatients, the laborers, courts, the bank, the mail, Al Qahira School, Al Cilia territory, and Abu Hamur territory and the Indian, Egyptian, Yemeni and Philippine communities.

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• 2,500,000 benefited from a huge water project; only 12% had access to drinking water before that.

Garut City in Indonesia suffered from dire shortage of drinking water; its people used to get only 12% of clean water. Now, however, thanks to QC things changed to the better.

QC and Mr. Rudy Gunawan, City Chief, signed an agreement in September 2014. As stated in the agreement, QC would provide 2,500,000 people living in Garut with clean water through digging 350 wells in one year. The project was implemented at a cost of 1,750,000 QR.

Goodbye Water Ponds

Mr. Gunawan said, “The water QC provided the city with entirely replaced the water ponds the people used to use for their wudu’ (ablution), their personal cleanliness and at schools. To be honest, when I signed this agreement last year, I did not expect the project to be this huge! I even told my colleagues that it would be great if they only dug 50 wells. We had met many institutions and I cannot begin to tell you the promises we’ve heard; however, QC did not make any promises. No, QC implemented. QC got the job done. I sincerely thank QC and the philanthropists who spent their money on this project so that our city would get clean water. It is a prevention project that will help protect us from diseases and will help the future of this city.”

The Fruit of Doing Good

Garut city has an area of 300 km2 and a population of 2,500,000 people. It basically depends on agriculture and is considered to be the neediest city for water in Indonesia.

The agreement, signed last year (2014) between QC and the Indonesian government, stated that by the end of September 2015 QC will have dug 350 wells.

The implementation of the project started immediately after the agreement was signed. QC, first, identified the neediest regions and villages for these wells; then started the implementation. Many schools, health centers and mosques benefited from this project.

The inauguration of this project was attended by many officials and senior figures. Each dug well had 5 water taps, and two toilets sometimes.

Mr. Karam Zeinhom, QC’s Office Director in Indonesia, said that such water projects were the fruit of QC’s good doing in Indonesia. “In fact, the services related to people’s lives and health conditions are always a priority,” said he.

QC, as Mr. Zeinhom clarified, does not spare an effort to help the needy in Indonesia; it is part of QC’s humanitarian message to the world. He also added that QC will not stop until it helps its brothers and sisters in Indonesia.

Thousands of Projects

It is worth mentioning that QC’s office has been working in Indonesia for 10 years. The total of the money spent in the past years reached 30,000,000$ (100,000,000 QR). QC had also signed an agreement with the Ministry of Religions and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs a while ago to renew the work in the humanitarian field for 3 years at a budget of 10,000,000$.

QC recently opened a big educational center after it had built and equipped it at a cost of 2,196,000QR. It was inaugurated in the presence of some officials, senior figures, a representative of the Qatari ambassador in Indonesia, a delegation from QC and the donors.  Mr. Rashidbin Fatis Al Mari, Deputy of QC’s CEO of Global Development, His Excellency Mr. Mohammed Al Badir, Representative of the Qatari Ambassador in Indonesia, and Mohammed Abdul Jaleel Abdul Ghani, Representative of Al Abdul Jaleel family, the donating philanthropists.

QC continues to implement income-generating projects for the benefit of the poor regions in Indonesia. These projects included handing the ownership of sewing machines, distributing dairy cows, and motorcycles to carry goods.

These projects are part of QC’s efforts in developing the targeted communities in Indonesia. It is a kind of support to the universal efforts to achieve the developmental goals for this millennium. In addition, QC seeks to contribute to the achievement of self-sufficiency projects that can get the poor families fixed-income to guarantee their dignity. 

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The fuel QC provided the Ministry of Health (MOH) with will allow its 13 hospitals to operate perfectly fine. The hospitals have the capacity of 1,588 beds and can now continue to offer their services to the citizens.

QC provided the MOH with 200,000 liters of fuel to avoid a possible humanitarian disaster in the Gaza Strip’s hospitals. This project was implemented in order to compensate for the dire shortage in electricity which the ministry suffers from. QC provided fuel to operate the generators of the MOH’s facilities. This way the citizens can receive health services without any problems. 

Saving the Day

This project, just like all of QC’s projects, is distinguished and important. The hospitals will not run out of fuel thus cause the health sector to fall apart. Now, instead, the hospitals can receive patients and offer them the needed services. Primary Care centers and the ambulances will benefit from this project. This will enable the medical staff to offer health services in the ICU, the OR, Renal Dialysis unit, the reception, the ER and the nursery.

Dr. Ashraf Abu Mahady, Director General of International Cooperation in the MOH, expressed his gratitude for QC’s quick response to the urgent appeal that the MOH had already made. “Our hospitals,” said Dr. Abu Mahady, “Are severely suffering because of the shortage in fuel. I thank QC for its support and help. 200,000 liters of fuel are definitely going to help the hospitals continue to offer medical services to the citizens.”

Eng. Mohammed Abu Haloub, QC’s Office Director in the Gaza Strip, said, “When the MOH in the Gaza Strip called for help, we, at QC, were so quick in responding because we know how important the health sector is. At a cost of 1,205,000QR, QC implemented this health project. The ministry suffers from continuous power cuts which could greatly affect the kind of services offered to the patients. More than 1,800,000 people depend on these hospitals.”

He then emphasized the fact that QC will always be there for the Palestinians who are under the Israeli siege. “We will provide the MOH with the necessary fuel to enable the hospitals to offer full medical services to the patients,” said he. 

An Urgent Matter

The fact that the electricity is out more than 12 hours per day in the Gaza Strip means the health sector cannot offer any services to the patients. It is simply because hospitals cannot operate without electricity. There will be no working medical devices in the ER, no working nurseries, and no working devices for renal dialysis. This, of course, causes a huge threat to the hospitals if they run out of fuel.

90% of the health services offered in the Strip are by the MOH’s hospitals. They provide medical services to more than 1,800,000 people. Such services include surgeries, and intensive care. Some hospitals are even specialized in offering renal dialysis and nurseries. The MOH also offers primary care services through 56 care centers. They include treatment for chronic diseases, contagious diseases, and preventive healthcare.

It is necessary for the hospitals to use generators (i.e. around 360,000 liters of fuel monthly) to cover for the daily 12-hour power cut at a cost of 530,000 USD or else the health sector will not be able to offer any services to the patients.

Supply of Medicines

It is worth mentioning that QC had already implemented several projects for the benefit of the health sector in Gaza. Some of these projects are related to the supply of medicines as part of an intervention program designed specially to help those who were injured in the last attack on Gaza (summer 2014). In addition, the engineering plan for building the internal medicine hospital as part of Al Shifa’ Medical Complex in Gaza at a cost of 582,000 QR.

Furthermore, QC is working on different projects to equip the hospitals with electromechanical devices, including providing generators, replacing elevators, and rehabilitating the sterilization system and offering mechanical ventilation at a cost of more than 10,000,000 QR. The health sector in the Gaza strip is the most siege-affected. It suffers from shortages in resources and potentials. 

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