Mike Peters-LHS Mission to Israel

MISSION TO ISRAEL

On Wednesday October 2nd 2013, I will be travelling to Israel to give my support to an incredible lady named Dr. Amal Bishara who has been single-handedly running an Arab Donor Registry in towns and villages throughout Israel.

The registry is doing phenomenal work and despite a serious lack of funds, Dr. Amal and her supporters have managed to sign up over 20,000 individuals and find 24 matches that have resulted in both Arab and Jewish lives being saved. It is powerful symbol of hope in a region divided, bringing together families and people through the act of saving lives.

The registry (which began in 2008), just about has enough funds to do one more drive, which they are hosting in Nazareth while I am there, so I will be helping out and singing songs while Dr. Amal and her supporters conduct a donor drive for a patient who needs a life saving transplant. I’m sure it will be an emotional experience.

I want to show Dr. Amal that the good news of her work is finding it’s way into the world and to organisations like Love Hope Strength who’s mission, is to help those who do not have access to the same medical resources as we have in our own communities.

In the USA and UK, our LHS donor drives are funded through a partnership with Delete Blood Cancer. This is not the case in Israel where it costs $45 to tissue type each individual and is the main reason for their lack of funds.

I’m not sure how we are going to show our support yet, which is another reason for me going there, but I want to share my thoughts with you at this early stage, as it is my hope that Israel will be the destination for our next major international ‘Rocks’ event.

I will be writing about my experiences online throughout the length of my 5 day visit to Israel and would very much welcome your thoughts and feelings on whether you, yourself, would be prepared to travel with me to Israel in the name of Love Hope Strength 2014, and help raise funds to support the Hadassah Registry, help save lives and send out a message of peace, love, hope and strength to the world.

You can even take part today by sending an email to me at israel@lovehopestrength.co.uk and I will write your name onto the guitar I will be playing at the drive in Nazareth on Sunday and show everyone who attends (and the television cameras who will be covering the event), that I come with the support of others.

Please stay in tune with the Love Hope Strength website, facebook page, instagram, and twitter feed, as Jules and I will be posting images and movie clips of our experience as they occur.

www.facebook.com/LHSUK

As part of our ongoing mission, the Love Hope Strength team is striving to unify the way individual registries in other countries are run and administered, and we will be campaigning on this message at the World Cancer Congress in Australia in December 2014.
I look forward to hearing from you while I am in Israel,

Love Hope and Strength,

Mike Peters

Links to further news stories about the Arab Donor Registry’s incredible work:

www.hadassahmagazine.org
www.al-monitor.com
www.hadassahinternational.org/news
israel21c.org/health
www.justgiving.com/mission-to-israel
www.lovehopestrength.org