We know that many of you may be immediately wondering why we are focused on providing diapers when all that you see on social media and the news is about the famine, starvation, and extreme lack of food. There are a few answers to that:
· We continue to buy as much food for people as we are able, and we won’t stop doing this. There is very little food to be bought, but we will continue to search for it and get it to the people who need it the very most.
· Diapers might not seem like one of the most important needs, but they actually are. There isn’t enough water for drinking, much less for using to wash cloth diapers or continually wash babies—so disposable diapers are the only viable option. And having a clean and sanitary way to get rid of poop is one of the most critical parts of keeping babies alive and healthy and keeping the people around them alive and healthy. If you think back to your elementary school or high school science classes, or just what your mama taught you, you’ll realize that human excrement anywhere near water supplies, or where people eat, or just around, is an excellent way of making a lot of people very, very sick.
Over the past weeks, we’ve received urgent pleas from hospitals and childcare centers, reporting a severe shortage of diapers. (Obviously; there’s a severe shortage/absence of everything.) Many families are unable to secure this basic necessity, putting the health and dignity of their little ones at serious risk. And the hospitals are asking individuals or organizations to please help them.
After working closely with our supplier, we’ve secured a high-volume, cost-efficient diaper shipment at the best possible price – and most importantly, and frankly miraculously, the supplier won’t be charging us the 45% commission that sellers in Gaza usually take in addition to the cost itself. (So, if they sell you something for $100, they take an additional $45 markup as the cost of doing business with them). That means a much higher percent of your donations will be able to be used for the much-needed supplies themselves.
We are launching this project immediately (as in, we will start bargaining for the diapers today, tonight, tomorrow at the latest (Allaa says, "we start bargaining tonight, not tomorrow!"), given the scale of need and the lack of diaper shipments entering the region for an extended period. We will actually use money that we already have to buy 10 medium packages/boxes of diapers, and we'll buy as much more as we can, depending on how many donations we get.
This is one of the most urgent, impactful efforts we can support right now. Diapers are more than just a basic item — they are essential for a child’s health, hygiene, comfort…and life.
Together, we can restore dignity to families and protect the health of the most vulnerable.
Thank you for standing with us.