Ynet News: Haitian kids to undergo surgery in Israel

Stephanie Ann, Jean Francois and Jacqueline suffer from heart defects preventing them from performing physical exercise. Holon's Edith Wolfson hospital, where they will soon be operated on, gives them new hope

Meital Yasur-Beit Or Published: 09.21.10, 07:42 / Israel Activism

Twelve-year-old Stephanie Ann Elisabeth never attended a gym class or rode on a bicycle. A congenital heart defect makes it hard for her to perform any kind of physical activity. Now, she may be able to realize her dream of playing volleyball after undergoing surgery in the Edith Wolfson Medical Center in Holon.

Stephanie Ann, Jacqueline and Jean (Photo: Ofer Amram)

Stephanie Ann arrived in Israel from Haiti together with 2-year-old Jacqueline Santos and 3-year-old Jean Francois Drensky. All three came to Israel with their mothers in order to undergo heart surgeries for their various birth defects as part of a project organized by the Save a Child's Heart foundation.

The first Haitian boy to arrive in Israel was 6-year-old Woodley Elysee who came directly after the devastating earthquake that hit the Caribbean country. Since then, Woodley has been treated and returned to Haiti.

 Woodley Elysee with member of the IDF mission to Haiti (Photo: Noam Barkan)

"Had we not operated on him he would have died soon after," Dr. Sion Houri, head of Pediatric ICU in Wolfson, said Thursday. Today Woodley is a healthy, full functioning little boy.

 Kids and their mothers at Wolfson Hospital (Photo: Ofer Amram)

Meanwhile, Lydia, Stephanie Ann's mother still awaits her daughter's operation.

"All those years they told us it was impossible for her to exercise or ride a bike," she says. "Now, we're supposed to stay here for three months and we have high hopes." Stephanie Ann says shyly that she's a 7th grader in a Port-au-Prince high school, that she does not have many friends and that her dream is to play volleyball.

Lydia says that she heard little about Israel before coming. "We looked Israel up on the internet and I saw there were religious people wearing black here," she relates. "In Haiti people wear black when someone dies."

The family were very fortunate during the earthquake, the mother says. "No one was hurt and the house wasn't ruined either. My workplace was completely destroyed. I have a good friend who lost her husband and her leg. Haiti will never be the same. Many homes are still in rubbles," she says.

Jean Francois on his mother's lap (Photo: Ofer Amram)

Dr. Huri explains the importance of the procedures the three kids will undergo in Israel. "I hope we can operate on some of them next week and on the rest after Sukkot," he says. "Because of their heart defects they can't run or play any kind of sport. They're fine as long as they don't exert themselves.
 
"Their condition is dynamic and would have deteriorated had we not treated them," he said, adding that the children are in risk of developing neurological problems but that he hoped they would return to form within 90 days.

The Save a Child's Heart foundation was established 15 years ago and has since arranged surgeries in Israel for more than 2,400 kids, half of whom were Palestinians and the rest from third-world countries like Iraq, Morocco, Angola, Zanzibar and Romania.

The foundation receives funds from the European Union and Israel's Ministry of Regional Development and hopes to facilitate the operations of 250 children this year.

Kongsi Raya

By: Manggis, 10-Sep-2010

Assalamualaikum

Shalom Aleichem

To the bloggers whoever you are, of whatever faith you are and to the faithless.

Today 9th September, the Jews are celebrating their Rosh Hashanah; therefore I would like to wish Happy New Year or Shana Tova Umetukah to the Jewish community all over the world including the few remaining Jews in Malaysia.

But tomorrow is the end of Ramadan 10th September, and I would like to greet the Muslims Eid Mubarak and may Allah accepted your fasting and give you barakah.

Being a multi-religious, multi-cultural country, Malaysians are used to sharing celebrations and festivals. This phenomenon is called Kongsi Raya. The word “kongsi”, is perhaps a Chinese word (D, please verify), which means “sharing”. Malaysians started to notice this many years ago when Hari Raya (the end of Ramadan celebration) was shared with the Chinese New Year. For the Chinese, the greeting is “Kong Si Fat Chai”, so in Malaysia we turned this term to become “Kongsi Raya” to signify the sharing of this Chinese New Year festival with Hari Raya.

Kongsi Raya is very rich and jovial festivals since the Malays and the Chinese will have their Big Makan (feast) almost at the same time. For both the Chinese and Malay communities, festivals means feast. It also means, visiting each other. For the Chinese the Big Feast is celebrated with their family on the eve of the festival followed by gambling sessions with family members and friends. Gambling in Chinese festival is almost a must. It’s significant and important to the Chinese culture because Chinese largely think, life is a gamble. To succeed, one needs a kind of gamble to take risk, to try new things and to explore the unknown. Gambling sessions is a practise to be bold to control one own destiny by chance.

While for the Muslims the feast is celebrated differently with their families after the Shalat (prayer) Eid-ul-Fitr, which will be mid-morning. But for Muslims, especially in Malaysia (not elsewhere, I think), prior to the feast is a special time, i.e. the time for the ritual of “forgiving and forgetting”. During this ritual, the younger family members will ask forgiveness from the elders, i.e. children to their parents etc... This is a special bonding event where the children will kiss the hands of the elders; this is the time when the elders will feel most appreciated, despite their children being distance, either physically or emotionally. They will recalled for any differences and ask for forgiveness, and make “halal” of whatever they (the younger ones) have taken either knowingly or unknowingly. This is the moment, when bad relationships are mended between relatives and friends. Our usual greetings to each other are:

Selamat Hari Raya, Maaf Zahir dan Batin, Halalkan Makan dan Minum.

“Maaf Zahir dan Batin” means, forgive me for all the wrongs that I have done outwardly or internally.

In the Muslim family household, this event of forgiving and forgetting is so special and sweet that no family members would wish to be alone during hari raya. They would almost feel like outcasts if they have no family homes to go to. Where ever they are, they would wish to come home to see their father and mother during this period. Since most elders live in the villages, big cities in Malaysia would be like ghost towns and empty during the festival, for the city dwellers would certainly return home to visit their elders. For those who really cannot go home, they will try to reach home, these days via telephone or other means of communications. For Malaysian Malays overseas, this moment will be celebrated by big gatherings. No one, really want to be alone during this period.

In addition, for the Muslims, this period is also celebrated by giving away alms and charity (sedekah). The compulsory alms (zakat fitrah), must be paid before the prayer Eid-ul-Fitr, the amount paid is equivalent to a day meal for yourself. Malaysia has numerous well organised alms collection centres throughout the country and will re-distribute the collection to the poor and needy. In addition, during this period, most people will perform their 4th Muslim ritual of giving alms (zakat) due to their wealth. This is a Muslim form of taxation. Remember, non-Muslim do not pay zakat. It is not obligatory for them to perform this. For all Malaysians (Mulsims and non-Muslims) they pay the normal income tax. In addition for Muslims, they must pay their obligatory alms. So Muslims pay double taxation. In order to adjust for this “slight injustice”, the Government allows, for Muslims to claim tax rebate for the alms paid.

Sometimes, I heard accusation that non-Muslims pay jizyah in the Muslim world, this is not true especially in Malaysia, Muslims pays double taxation. I pay double taxation. But I am a happy tax payer and am proud that I contribute to my community.

Many delicious cookies are made or purchased during hariraya; some are traditional while many are being created to suit the time and modernity. For example, many cookies these days are made from cornflakes, chocolates, nuts and other ingredients imported from the western cultures. Many people make a lot of money for making these cookies for sale “Hari raya cookies making “ is now a well-known, once a year business enterprise. My own favourite cookies are the pineapple tarts.

Eid-ul-Fitr is celebrated in a very grand (raya) way in Malaysia and that is why it is called hari raya. This is the day when you must wear your best cloth, usually new ones. In old days, only during hari raya that you get a change of clothing. So usually, my parents will give me two new clothes which will last me for the whole year. So of course this is also a flourishing business time for tailors and dress makers. As our economic position is improving a lot, it is not uncommon, for the tailoring business to accept orders one year in advance, i.e. as soon as hari raya ends, the tailor would receive new orders for the next year raya celebration.

For children, eid-ul- fitr is also magical and important. Apart from the celebration means they can play with fire crackers, it is also time for them to have as many cookies as possible. In addition, they will receive money. This is what children look forward to, since during hari raya, they will be able to collect some extra pocket money, from “duit raya”. During my childhood days of duit raya for the Malays ranges from 5 sen to one ringgit, if I am lucky. These days, it ranges from 20 sen to two ringgit typically. But of course, children will get more from their uncles, aunties or relatives.

Copying the tradition of the Chinese ang paw, also money given away for children during Chinese New Year, these days, duit raya is given in green packet, while ang paw is in red-packet. Come to think of it, the traditions of giving ang paw packet red or green and playing with fire crackers are non-Islamic. These are local cultures possibly from China infused into the Malay culture and adopted during the Muslims festival.

On the 7th night before the end of Ramadan, usually in the village, it is traditional for the Malays to lit up their compounds with light from little kerosine lamps. These nights are called “malam tujuh likur”. Again, I do not think, this is part of the Muslims tradition. I would like to think, this tradition to be the remnant of the Hindu tradition on their light festival (the Deepavali). Anyway, Malaysia is a melting pot, everything can, Malaysia Boleh.

One tradition which was invented during the last 10-20 years, as Malaysia become a modern country, is the “open house culture”. When city dwellers come back to their cities, they want to celebrate hari raya with their friends. Hence, they make an open house party where all friends and relatives are invited. It is open house, which means, friends of friends of friends are all welcome. By right, you do not need an invitation to come to any of this sort of party. Gate-crashers are welcomed. Important people, like Kings, Sultans and Politicians have their open houses on the first or second day of hariraya. In some cases, for example Tun Mahathir’s open house, received as many as 30,000 people in one day. Tun and his family shake hands with each and every one of these 30,000 people! And to each one, he will greet “Selamat Hari Raya Maaf Zahir dan Batin”.

In Malaysia, (unlike in other Muslim countries), hari raya is celebrated in a very grand way; it almost lasted one whole month of Shawal!

The other nice feature of hari raya, because Muslim calendar is based on lunar cycle, the Muslim year is short by 10 days. This makes hariraya, shifted by 10 days every year. Hence, Kongsi Raya is now an event shared between other faiths that have their festival based on lunar/solar cycle. A few years ago, Kongsi Raya was with the Chinese New Year, i.e. when hariraya was in February or January. Then Kongsi Raya happened during Christmas (December), after that Deepavali (November), this year Kongsi Raya is with the Jewish Rosh Hashanah (October). Unfortunately, this Jewish celebration is almost unknown to me. I wish Hanan can tell us a bit more of this festival. Of course, I can read about it in Wikipedia, but surely the celebration will have its own local flavour. I wonder how the Israelis celebrate this festival in Israel.

I wonder also how, the Palestinians celebrated the end of Ramadan. In Gaza, they must have celebrated this celebration modestly. My heart feels for them. I wish both the Israelis and their Palestinian cousins have this culture of “forgiving and forgetting’. I wish they will take advantage of both the festivities (Eid-ul-Fitr) and Rosh Hashanah, to shake hands, to forgive and to forget the past. I wish they reconcile with each other and they determine to start afresh and new. May you Israelis and Palestinians ”kongsi“ the land together. No more fighting and no more killing.

I wish for peace in the Middle East. May Allah grant peace and friendship for these two groups of people.

Wassalam.

Ynet News: Palestinian organ donation saves 3 people

Father of 3-year-old killed in mishap: Happy to see him alive in others, whether Jewish or Arab

Dr. Itay Gal Published: 09.06.10, 19:29 / Israel News

Three people have been granted the opportunity for a new life, after the family of a Palestinian child who died in a mishap donated his liver and lungs.

Palestinian child saves three other people – Abdul Hai Salhut

The transplants recipients are all in stable condition and are currently recovering at hospital.

The tragic incident took place about 10 days ago, when three-and-a-half-year-old Abdul Hai Salhut of east Jerusalem's Jabel Mukaber fell and sustained grave injuries near his home. His family drove him to a local hospital, and from there he was taken to Jerusalem's Hadassah Ein Karem medical center.

The child was taken directly into surgery where doctors struggled to save his life. He was hospitalized for a week but his condition continued to deteriorate; he passed away this past Thursday. However, despite the tragedy, his parents approved an organ donation.

Dr. Ran Steinberg with liver recipient (Photo: Schneider Hospital)

The donation saved three people, including a five-year-old boy who required an urgent liver transplant. The child is currently hospitalized at the intensive care unit at Schneider Children's Medical Center in stable condition.
 
Meanwhile, a lung was transplanted in a seven-and-a-half year old girl suffering from an inborn lung disease. Another lung was transplanted in a 55-year-old man after it was found unsuitable for any other children.

"My son reached a state where it was impossible to save him," Moussa Salhut, the dead boy's father, told Ynet. "We're happy to see him alive in other people, regardless of whether they are Arab or Jewish. It doesn't make a difference when you save life. In the shadow of our difficult loss, we are touched to have saved lives."

Ynet News: Jewish filmmaker tells Palestinian story

Viewing four decades of Palestinian history through Palestinian eyes in 'Miral,' Julian Schnabel says 'because I'm an American Jews it’s a big part of my life'

AFP Published: 09.06.10, 07:35 / Israel Culture

Julian Schnabel, an American Jew born three years after the creation of Israel, views four decades of Palestinian history through Palestinian eyes in "Miral," which screened Thursday at the Venice film festival.

Julian Schnabel. Touched by novel

"Obviously it's a Palestinian story, but it's very important that an American Jewish person tell a Palestinian story," Schnabel, 58, said on a stop in Paris en route to Venice for the screening.

The film is based on an autobiographical novel of the same name by Palestinian journalist Rula Jebreal, a book the director said provided a "pretext" for approaching a conflict that most of Western cinema usually keeps at arm's length.

Like Jebreal, Miral grew up in an orphanage in east Jerusalem set up by a Jerusalem socialite from a wealthy Palestinian family, who one morning in 1948 came across a group of children who escaped the massacre of Dir Yassin, a nearby village, committed by radical Jewish militants.

Adapted in collaboration with the author, Schnabel's film traces the lives of these two women from the establishment of the orphanage until the Oslo peace accords of 1993, a moment of great hopes later to be dashed.

"The whole point is because I'm an American Jew, and that's why it touched me because it's a big part of my life," Schnabel said.

"It's important for Muslims to hear that, it's important for Jewish people to hear that, and for Israel and for people everywhere," said Schnabel, whose "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" won the award for best director at Cannes in 2007 as well as several Oscar nominations.

"When I was a child, Israel was like a supreme point to my mother... The success of Israel was something very important to her and very important to me," he said.

"So in order to continue that and to achieve that we have to understand the Palestinian people and people that are in the middle."

'Israeli-Palestinian conflict like a marriage'
 
A native New Yorker who is also a neo-expressionist artist famous for his oversized ceramic "plate paintings", Schnabel admits he "didn't know much about the Palestinians" when he set out to make his fifth film.

Jebreal's book was "a perfect way to get into this," he said.

Schnabel recruited Indian actress Freida Pinto, who played Latika in "Slumdog Millionnaire," for the role of Miral and Hiam Abass of Israel ("The Syrian Bride," "Lemon Tree") for the elegant orphanage director Hind Husseini in the French-Israeli-Italian-Indian production.

'Miral.' Pretext for approaching a conflict Book cover

For authenticity - and perfect light - Schnabel shot in Israel and the West Bank despite especially tense circumstances.

"The incursion into Gaza took place just three days before we arrived in Jerusalem and I was looking for a location in east Jerusalem," he said.

"I wanted to shoot in the Husseini house but I couldn't really have people with walkie-talkies looking like the army and speaking Hebrew inside this house," he said.

"But they trusted me, and the Israeli people in my crew were very respectful and they spoke English when they were working on the location," Schnabel said.

Of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he said it was like a marriage: "These people live in the same house and ultimately they have to survive together. If you're married to somebody, sometimes you have to give up some parts of yourself in order to get something that might be greater than what you had when you were alone."
 
Schnabel says he still harbors hope for a resumption of direct peace talks, and dedicates the film to "people on both sides who still believe that peace is possible."