British trekkers help refurbish ambulance station in world’s largest Bedouin city
Rob Rinder was among those taking part in MDA's trek to Jordan that raised funds to overhaul the station in Rahat in Israel's south.
Justin Cohen is the News Editor at the Jewish News
A ambulance station in the largest Arab city in Israel has been relefurbished with the help of participants in Magen David Adom’s Jordan trek including Rob Rinder.
With a total of 80,000 residents, Rahat in Israel’s south is also the largest Bedouin city on earth. But when leaders of MDA UK visited the emergency service’s base there four years ago they found facilities that weren’t fit for purpose.
The charity set its sights on improving conditions for the station’s heroic volunteers, including building an extension to host training of paramedics, separate sleeping quarters for men and women and an area to keep oxygen tanks so medics would no longer have to travel to Beer Sheva to retrieve them when needed.
Speaking at the official opening, Suleiman al Atayka, who leads on higher education at the Rahat municipality, said: “This station covers a huge area – all across the Negev region – and the staff who work here feel a huge difference. They say it feels a lot more welcoming and those outside can recognise there’s a huge importance to this station.
“We want to thank the donors and volunteers who work here. When it comes to human life it makes no difference if the patient is a Jew or Arab.” He said he hoped the new facilities would lead to more volunteers coming forward. Attracting more Bedouin women into studying medicine was a goal for the authority, he added.
MDA’s latest trek to Jordan last October raised in excess of £50,000 and saw participants spending time with the head of the Jordanian Red Crescent Mohammed Al-Hadid, who is himself a Bedouin and paved the way for MDA’s inclusion into the International Red Cross and Red Crescent movement when he chaired it in 2006. In place of Al-Hadid who wasn’t able to attend the joyous event, MDA UK Vice President Judy Saphra cut the ribbon to formally open the newly refurbished centre.
While the charity’s CEO Daniel Burger said they jumped at the chance to support the project to enhance working conditions, chair Russell Jacobs said “What we didn’t know was that it would also increase the number of volunteers, both men and women, because they felt more comfortable.” The charity also donated an mobile intensive care unit to the Rahat station last year.
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
