Hamid is approximately 45 years old. He is the father of 5 kids. He has three girls and 2 boys.

His girls are: Zahariya - 17, Anwar - 13, Diana - 6. His boys: Baquer - 21, Bajes - 16

Both he and his wife suffer from medical issues that do not allow them to work to support themselves. Hamid has a brain injury that was not fully described during the interview; but it causes him to pass out from time to time, and lose both memory and consciousness. This medical condition seems to worsen as he ages. Abu Baquer was working in Israel before the intifada, but no longer has permission to go there. Nor would his medical condition allow for him to continue his work. He was a laborer.

Im Baquer had hip replacement surgery a few years back and still needs to travel weekly to the doctors in Ramallah. This gets costly as far as both travel and the cost of the doctor visit.

This family is one of the few families in the village who have a home rental situation. They move between two houses, one in Jayyous and the other in the nearby city of Qalkilya.

This family had minimal land before the building of the wall but it is now gone. They do not own any sheep or chickens to help them in any way. And, they are not working. They mostly sustain themselves by the eldest son, Baquer, who is a policeman in Arriha (Jericho). His income is 1200 NIS per month; he sends them what he can on a monthly basis.

Mohammed is 45 years old. He has 5 children, ages 15 to 6. His girls are: Imani - 15, Iman - 14, Hiba - 10, Inas - 8, and his boy: Naim - 6.

All of them will now attend school starting this year, with Naim starting his first year at the grade school in the village.

 

Mohammed was chosen because he suffers greatly from a medical condition and is unable to work and it is difficult to support his wife and kids.

He has had severe epilepsy since he was 10 years old. Sure, he has been able to do odd jobs around the village from time to time, but to hold a steady job is not what he is capable of.

He has seizures on a fairly regular basis and from how they are described, they are grand mal; he falls to the ground, shaking, eyes rolling back in his head, face turning yellow, at times loss of bodily functions...followed by an extreme drowsiness.

He has three different types of medication; one kind that he is not always able to get because his insurance will not pay for it. Thankfully, he has been able to maintain use of a generic version of Tegretol to help control the seizures. He hasn't however, been able to maintain any kind of blood level testing to see if it is a good or right dosage for him. He appears "out of it" most of the time. This appearance, sadly, has ostracized him a bit from the rest of the village.

His children dont know how to react when their father experiences these episodes, sometimes laughing, perhaps thinking he is playing...and at other times, they react with fear.

Mohammed's wife explained to us that he has attempted to harm himself many times over the years; she further explained that this comes from sheer depression and feeling as if there is no hope; he has undergone 27 brain surgeries since the age of 10.

He needs help with money for his kids for school, money for clothing for them, food and water and electricity. We sat in the dark last night, lit only by the moon, to conduct our interview. They were not able to pay electricity for several months and so the mayor had no other choice but to cut the power to his home.

This is a family who is in need of some monetary and moral support.