Help

Asylum seekers in Israel do not have free access to public healthcare. This also applies to their children because their parents usually cannot afford health insurance for them.

This lack of health insurance is particularly fatal for children of torture survivors in Sinai. Their parents often suffer from severe trauma, depression, sleep and eating disorders. Some of these children had to watch their mother or father being raped, abused and tortured in torture camps and many of these children even had to experience unimaginable violence themselves.

Example: The fate of the six-year-old girl S.

During their escape from Eritrea the six-year-old girl named S. and her mother were kidnapped and brought to a torture camp on the Sinai Peninsula. The two were held captive in a dark basement for over four months and the mother was raped countless times by various men in front of the little girl’s eyes.

S. has been suffering from chronic diseases since their arrival in Israel four years ago. Since she has no health insurance, S. neither has access to medical nor psychological care.

Health insurance grants access to healthcare

In Israel health insurance for one child costs 120 shekels (about 30 euros) per month and 240 shekels (60 euros) per month for families with two or more children.

Since many torture survivors are not able to work due to their mental and physical injuries and are legally not allowed to either as they do not have a work permit, they simply cannot afford health insurance.

Desert Rose stands up for children of torture survivors by providing them with health insurance thus granting them access to the Israeli healthcare system.

Together with our partner organisation ASSAF (Aid Organisation for Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Israel) we support parents by providing their children with health insurance for at least a year. Our long-term goal is to help families so they can eventually pay the costs for health insurance themselves. Furthermore, ASSAF advocates for the rights for children of asylum seekers on a political level in Israel to grant them basic rights, for example, the formal recognition as a victim of human trafficking (VOHT) or a victim of torture (VOT).

The children of two families are already being supported

As part of a pilot project, Desert Rose is supporting two families with more than two children each by providing them with health insurance for a year. Twice a year Desert Rose receives information about the current situation of the family and the children.

ASSAF is currently supporting at least ten more families with children who are in urgent need of this health insurance project. We need your support in order for us to provide these children with healthcare.

Help us support children by providing them with healthcare and donate now!

By using “Health insurance” as reference, you can be sure that the money will go towards health insurance for children. If you have any questions regarding our health insurance project, do not hesitate to contact us via email contact@desertrose.info or our partner organization ASSAF (info@assaf.org.il).

Donate a partial amount or become an insurance sponsor.

Author: Lucia Heisterkamp
Translation: Nicole Freibott/ Diana Köth/ Melanie Martin

With your donation you give us the opportunity to carry out info events in the context of our initiative “SOS Sinai” (like i.e. the one on 21st of february in Cologne) or to be present with an information stand in other events. For this kind of public relations events we always need info material and we have been paying all costs privately so far. The same goes for the expenses for travel and accommodation of our guest speakers. But these events are very important, not only to inform the public about what is going on in the Sinai desert, but also to contact politicians and activists that could help us reach our goals. A part of your donation will be used to record cases of human trafficking, which is a necessary issue for our fight against this horrible crime. Furthermore, we try to offer individual help to people that we get to know during our travels to Israel and who are urgently in need. Each dollar is strongly needed and used very carefully by Desert Rose e.V. Thank you so much!