Mohammad El Foudi, Tulkarm Refugee Camp, June 2011

21 year old Mohammad Walid El Foudi lives with his mother and father in the Tulkarm Refugee Camp in the extreme northwestern West Bank.  His father works in a coffee shop and his mother is a seamstress.  He has three brothers and four sisters between the ages of 18 and 35.  Two of his brothers and his sisters are married. 

Now home to more than 18,000 registered refugees, Tulkarm Refugee Camp was first established in 1950 within the town of Tulkarm, nine miles west of Nablus in the foothills of the Samarian mountains.  Originally, its inhabitants came from the villages and cities in the Haifa, Jaffa and Kissaria areas, which are now part of Israel.   

All shelters within the camp are connected to the public water and electricity systems. However, sewerage is inadequate and the winter rains cause the old sewage lines to flood, especially – unfortunately – in the areas around the schools.

The five schools in the camp are overcrowded, with one having to run double shifts.

There are one food distribution centre, three health centres and a women’s programme within the camp.  However, unemployment is high, with over a third of the residents not working. 

In 2003, when Mohammad was 12 years old, he lost his left eye after being shot by an Israeli soldier during the first Intifada. 

*Mohammad El Foudi

At this point Mohammad’s life changed forever.  Suffering from poor stereopsis, or an inability to perceive depth or distance, he was no longer able to continue at school.  And, with his obvious sight defect, he has so far not been able to find work.  He now receives ILS 600 (£108) every month from the Association of Palestinians Wounded in the Intifada.

Finally, in June, 2011, Mohammad was referred to our Jerusalem Hospital by the Rafidia Governmental Hospital in Nablus.  After being seen by visiting Consultant Ophthalmologist and Ophthalmic Plastic Surgeon, Mr Tony Tyers, and our own Dr Bashar Jaber, he was fitted with a prosthetic implant, providing better cosmesis – the surgical correction of a disfiguring defect. 

His improved cosmetic appearance should permit Mohammad a greater chance of finding employment.  He said afterwards, of his stay in the Hospital in Jerusalem, “It was wonderful; everything was perfect.”

Though it has a happy ending, Mohammad’s story is a sad one.  It is attestation to the lack of medical infrastructure in the occupied Palestinian territory, and to the impact of travel restrictions upon the lives of ordinary people, that Mohammad had to wait nine years to receive an artificial eye.