[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 161 (Wednesday, November 13, 2013)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1645-E1646]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        RECOGNIZING PROJECT HOPE

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                           HON. FRANK R. WOLF

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 13, 2013

  Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Project HOPE, an 
international nonprofit organization in Millwood, Virginia dedicated to 
providing quality and sustainable healthcare to people around the 
world. I want to highlight their recent medical outreach to Syrian 
children, who make up half of Syria's refugee population from the 
current crisis.
  I travelled to the region in February and spent time with Syrian 
refugees in Lebanon, hearing firsthand their accounts of the horrific 
civil war that was ripping apart their nation. Over two million 
refugees have fled and are living in refugee camps or trying to survive 
on their own in neighboring countries.
  Last month, I had the opportunity to visit Project HOPE in Millwood. 
I was pleased to learn that they recently delivered 186,000 doses of a 
vaccine to infants and young children at the Al Za'atari refugee camp 
in Jordan to combat the potentially deadly rotavirus. The virus is 
highly contagious and spreads rapidly in crowded encampments with 
inadequate sanitation.
  Project HOPE is also trying to help other vulnerable refugees, 
including individuals with

[[Page E1646]]

disabilities and the elderly. Often, in global disasters, children, the 
disabled and the elderly are most at risk. These are the people for 
whom Project HOPE can make a difference.
  In addition to Project HOPE's vital work among the Syrian refugee 
population, they are also serving the victims of Typhoon Haiyan in the 
Philippines. Project HOPE has a proven track record in the region and 
is urgently working to provide much needed emergency medicine and 
medical supplies to the survivors of this devastating natural disaster.
  I applaud Project HOPE's 55-year legacy of tireless service to the 
poor and vulnerable, both here and abroad.
  I submit the following article from the Winchester Star, which 
details Project HOPE's outstanding work to bring medical relief to 
Syrian refugees.

               [From the Winchester Star, Sept. 21, 2013]

          Hope Arrives for Refugees from Civil War-Torn Syria

                           (By Val Van Meter)

       Millwood.--The disadvantaged children affect Frederick 
     Gerber the most.
       He is at the Al Za'atari refugee camp in Jordan this week, 
     delivering 186,000 doses of vaccine from Project HOPE in 
     Millwood to children there.
       Gerber is a director of operations in Iraq for Project HOPE 
     (Health Opportunities for People Everywhere) and helped to 
     build a hospital for children in Basrah, the first new 
     hospital in Iraq--a country with a population of about 33 
     million--since the 1980s.
       His organization is trying to help Jordan and other 
     countries in the area to cope with the influx of refugees 
     from the two-year-old civil war in Syria.
       The conflict has generated a flood of refugees into 
     countries neighboring Syria, Gerber said.
       Al Za'atari opened two years ago, with 60,000 men, women 
     and children.
       Now, Gerber said, Jordan is sheltering more than 600,000, 
     with more than 200,000 in United Nations refugee camps. Al 
     Za'atari is the second-largest refugee camp in the world, and 
     would qualify as Jordan's fourth-largest city.
       ``It's the size of 600 football fields,'' Gerber said.
       Those in the camps could be said to be the lucky ones. He 
     noted that they receive deliveries of clean water, food and 
     blankets.
       Other refugees try to find shelter with family members or 
     friends, or simply squat in empty or abandoned buildings.
       ``They live in dire circumstances,'' Gerber said.
       Project HOPE, with its focus on health projects, has been 
     working in the Middle East for a dozen years, he said.
       This situation, with the refugee totals of those who have 
     left Syria expected to top 3.5 million by year's end--and 
     another 4.5 million believed to be displaced in the war-torn 
     country--is swamping the resources of its neighbors.
       ``Jordan needs a lot of help to help them,'' Gerber said.
       Project HOPE's donation of vaccines to fight rotavirus is a 
     preventative operation, he said.
       Rotaviruses are known to cause diarrhea and dehydration, 
     especially in children, and break out where people are 
     crowded together and clean water and good sanitation are 
     lacking.
       Project HOPE is also readying some $30 million in medical 
     supplies in its Winchester warehouse for shipment to Jordan.
       Much of that shipment will be used in the camps--but, 
     Gerber said, he hopes some can be moved over the border into 
     Syria, where about 2,500 medical professionals are working 
     under battlefield conditions to help casualties from the 
     fighting.
       ``These are the real heroes,'' he said.
       Estimates indicate that 70 percent of Syria's doctors have 
     fled the country, Gerber said. Most of the nation's hospitals 
     have been damaged or destroyed.
       The physicians remaining are working in field hospitals and 
     aid stations, dealing with battlefield casualties with sparse 
     modern supplies or equipment.
       Without proper retractors, Gerber said, he has heard of 
     doctors holding a chest open for surgery ``with a pair of 
     pancake flippers.''
       In addition to immediate medical emergencies, he sees a 
     future threat in post-traumatic stress disorder for all 
     refugees and a dim future for the children who may live in 
     refugee camps for years without any hope of getting an 
     education.
       Gerber would like to find ways to have Jordanian 
     professionals trained to handle the ``stress, depression and 
     anxiety that are so palpable'' in and outside the camps.
       ``Very few have any training in psychosocial illnesses,'' 
     he added.
       But his first focus now is keeping the children healthy.
       ``I love what I'm doing,'' said Gerber, a Washington, D.C., 
     resident who spent 32 years in the Army health services.
       ``And it's wonderful to do it with an organization like 
     Project HOPE.''
       But seeing children starved or injured ``never fails to 
     bring a tear to my eye.''

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