Letter from a Supporter: “Why I Support the Coronavirus Solidarity Fund” – Janey Stone
We’ve received this letter from Janey Stone, a long-time Union Aid Abroad – APHEDA supporter who has made a donation to the Coronavirus Solidarity Fund.
Janey made her donation remembering her 1980 visit to Lebanon, where she saw the unsafe living conditions of Palestinian refugees in the Bourj el Barajneh refugee camp of Beirut. “When the COVID-19 crisis hit, forty years after my visit, I thought of the people we had met, and their children, who were probably still living in the same conditions.”
Read Janey’s letter here:
“In 1980, I and two friends visited Lebanon and had the opportunity to visit several refugee camps where Palestinians refugees were living. One of them was the Bourj el Barajneh camp, which actually occupied a few city blocks in Beirut. We were horrified at what we saw – the dense crowding, the run-down buildings, the lack of sanitation, the open drains in the street…”
“When the COVID-19 crisis hit, forty years after my visit, I thought of the people we had met, and their children, who were probably still living in the same conditions. I thought of other Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, the West Bank, and Gaza. The vision of how the pandemic would hit these people, who had only limited access to water and cleaning materials, and limited medical resources, was frightening.”
“We have our problems here in Australia, but I wanted to do something to help them, to show solidarity with the Palestinian and Syrian refugees in Bourj el Barajneh and other camps. As a unionist, I wanted to donate through Union Aid Abroad – APHEDA.”
“I urge you to consider doing the same, to donate to projects that are helping support refugees whose plight has only been intensified by the pandemic.”
Our partner organisation in Lebanon, the Palestinian Women’s Health Organisation (PWHO), is working to stop the spread of the Coronavirus through the Bourj el Barajneh refugee camp. To learn more about their response, read the letter from the PWHO Director, Dr. Olfat Mahmoud.
The Coronavirus Solidarity Fund is made possible thanks to the contributions of hundreds of supporters like Janey, whose donations will support our partner organisations across the globe as they mobilise to protect vulnerable communities and workers.