The coronavirus crisis is difficult for everyone on a number of levels. Given the already existing challenges in East Jerusalem – language, culture, socio-economic, statutory and much more – Atta’a’s services are needed now more than ever.
Many of the services and directives produced by the Israel Ministry of Health are translated into Arabic. However, many of the forms – such as home quarantine after returning from abroad – are only in Hebrew. Atta’a translated the form (below), and its post on how to fill out the form reached more than 22,000 (!) people. We know that it was used and shared by a number of prominent East Jerusalem Facebook pages and relevant organizations. Here’s a picture of the form:
Translation of the home quarantine form
And here’s the original Facebook post (in Arabic):
it is critical to raise awareness about the new directives, to ensure as many people see them as possible. It is even more critically important because of the crowdedness of many homes and neighborhoods, which puts that population at a higher risk of contracting the disease.
In addition, during this time, residents of East Jerusalem, like residents throughout Israel, require a lot of public and welfare services – from the National Insurance Institute, from the municipality, from the municipal employment office. Because of the situation most offices are closed, so Atta’a is one of the main channels that it getting the word out, to show how to navigate the different web sites (which are not always in Arabic), to be able to receive benefits (such as unemployment) that are so critical in these uncertain times. The post below is from a few days ago, when the East Jerusalem branch of the National Insurance Institute stopped having public reception hours. The branch director called Daud, the Atta’a Director, at 10pm so that he could get the word out about canceling public reception hours. This post reached more than 25,000 people, and was shared and posted on a number of major East Jerusalem Facebook pages. Here’s that post:
The Facebook page also posts updates by the National Insurance Institute about how to file for unemployment, and more. Atta’a also partnered with the JDC and the Jerusalem Municipality to produce the following video, which received tens of thousands of views:
In addition to the posts and additions to the Atta’a web site, Atta’a is also answering individual requests using a range of – by Facebook, email, telephone, and more. Since the crisis began they’ve dealt with 300 requests, more than twice the number of they help during ‘normal’ times.
Kol hakavod on the dedication and hard work. Wishing all well and much strength to help others along the way.
And, as always, many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation for their continued support of Atta’a.
