by Karin A. Brown

Before the sun rises over Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley, a hospital van has already set out for the Palestinian town of Hebron to bring ten children to Augusta Victoria Hospital for their dialysis treatment.

These children have kidney failure and must come to Jerusalem three times a week for the tiring four-hour treatment available only at this Lutheran World Federation hospital. The van service for the children and their families was arranged by the hospital because of the current political situation that severely restricts Palestinians’ movement. Patients often have a difficult time reaching the hospital in East Jerusalem due to Israeli security checkpoints that separate towns and the scarcity of permits required to enter Jerusalem.

Energy and brightness fill the van in the early morning light as more children climb in at several stops along the way. The van service means a comfortable and relatively stress-free ride for the children who move through the checkpoints as a group without much delay. Once at the hospital, the children settle into their chairs as they greet the nurses whom they have come to know so well over the months and years of their treatment.

A sense of family is apparent among the patients and staff. During their treatment, the children play games together, draw, sing, and dance; though after just fifteen minutes of dancing, the children are noticeably tired and lean quietly back in their chairs to rest. Each day brings surprises for these young patients. Someday are really good while others are much harder, but the children are still able to go forward with smiles.

In the summer of 2004, I volunteered at Augusta Victoria Hospital (AVH), which primarily serves Palestinian refugees — people who would otherwise not be able to find or afford good health care. I spent time talking with and photographing patients there — trying to reveal the faces and human stories of those who receive care from this remarkable hospital. The collection of personal stories and pictures is being used to help raise money for the hospital by showing donors more than just statistics. I talked and played with dialysis patients under the age of twelve. I toured village health clinics and visited with people who were too sick to leave their homes. I talked with cancer patients both young and old.

I thought I would be the one providing a service by helping raise awareness and money for the hospital. But as I spent time with the children and the older patients, I was amazed by their resilience and high spirits that gave them and those around them strength to make it to the next day. More than facing crippling illnesses, they are forced to deal with these illnesses in the context of a political and social situation that permeates their daily activities. Every day, they wonder if they will make it to the hospital for their next visit or if they will die trying. I saw life and energy in the eyes of children who are terminally ill and living through a war. Though I was the one who came to offer assistance, the children left more of an impression on me than I could have on them.

I was back in Jerusalem for the summer of 2005. The AVH now has several large buses that safely transport patients and hospital staff past the checkpoints and the Israeli Separation Wall each day to the hospital and then back home again. You can read more about the AVH in the Lutheran World Federation Jerusalem Program’s 2004 Annual Report. Go to www.LWFJerusalem.org for more information.

The Sixth Triennial Convention of Women of the ELCA voted in July 2005 to act boldly to help Augusta Victoria Hospital. Currently, the hospital is a tax-exempt organization. The State of Israel is seeking to revoke that tax-exempt status. Delegates to the convention asked that the executive director and all women write to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to request the U.S. government’s help in preventing the revocation of the hospital’s tax exemption by the State of Israel. The hospital in Jerusalem is operated by the Lutheran World Federation. The taxes that would be incurred would severely impact the hospital’s ability to serve Palestinians. A letter and address are available for download at the ELCA’s e-advocacy Web site at www.elca.org/advocacy