Phenylketonuria (PKU) is a rare, inherited metabolic disorder. People with PKU are unable to metabolize phenylalanine, a component of proteins. Phenylalanine builds up in the blood, causing irreversible brain damage.

Untreated, PKU can cause permanent intellectual disability, seizures, and developmental delays, especially in children whose brains and bodies are still developing.

Fortunately, with early diagnosis and a lifelong specialized diet consisting mostly of rice, fruit, and vegetables, PKU patients can live healthy and symptom-free lives.

In Gaza, however, access to the required diet is increasingly difficult due to the effects of war and Israel’s stifling land and sea blockade, which impacts the ability to both grow and import the needed food. Everyone in Gaza faces severe food shortages, but for families of PKU kids, the situation is even more dire.

Gaza is currently home to over 50 children and over 100 youths who are affected by PKU. This is why the Madison-Rafah Sister City Project (MRSCP) is launching a new campaign intended to prevent permanent PKU related disability by providing safe food to as many of these children as possible.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

As of early 2026, it’s estimated that it costs approximately $100 USD per month per child to provide the special diet that children with PKU need in order to stay healthy. Our initial goal is to raise enough funds to feed 50 children for 6 months.

While any contribution is helpful, we are hoping that donors will be willing to consider regular, monthly contributions that can provide steady and reliable nutrition, so that no PKU patient in Gaza whether child or youth will develop these entirely preventable debilitating and permanent disabilities.

MRSCP will be raising these funds in conjunction with the Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA). Funds collected by MRSCP and MECA will be sent to Ard Al-Insan, a Palestinian organization in Gaza that focuses on providing nutritional and health services for children.

Ard Al-Insan is able to purchase food for the special diets from vendors in the strip, which will then be distributed by a physician who works with PKU patients and their families.

By supporting children with PKU in Gaza, we are helping some of the most vulnerable members of the Palestinian community–children whose health and development depend on access to a specialized diet. This work is both a humanitarian effort and an affirmation that Gaza is their home, and that Palestinian families have the right to live there with dignity and care.

WAYS TO DONATE

• ONLINE
• CHECK payable to MRSCP & marked “PKU” to:
  • MRSCP
    PO. BOX 5214
    MADISON, WI 53705

The Madison PKU Connection

Dr. Harry Waisman, for whom the Waisman Center is named, was a pioneering pediatrician and researcher at the University of Wisconsin best known for his groundbreaking contributions to the understanding and treatment of PKU.

During the mid-twentieth century, Dr. Waisman and his colleagues showed that early identification and dietary intervention could prevent the devastating consequences of PKU. Their work led to the development of simple, inexpensive newborn screening programs, now a standard public health practice throughout the United States and many other countries — including Gaza prior to the Israeli war.

ABOUT THE MADISON-RAFAH SISTER CITY PROJECT

MRSCP was founded in 2003 to build people-to-people ties with Rafah, Gaza Strip, Palestine. Since then, MRSCP has provided solidarity and humanitarian assistance in both Gaza and the West Bank. MRSCP has partnered with the Middle East Children’s Alliance on many humanitarian projects to ease suffering and provide basic necessities like food and clean water.

ABOUT THE MIDDLE EAST CHILDREN’S ALLIANCE

MECA is a nonprofit organization working for the rights and the well-being of children in the Middle East. MECA supports dozens of community projects for Palestinian children and refugees. Since 1988 they have delivered $54 million in food and medical aid to Palestine, Iraq, and Lebanon. MECA welcomes the support of all who care about children and their future. 

ABOUT ARD AL-INSAN

Ard Al-Insan is a non-governmental, non-profit organization founded in 1984 as a branch of the Swiss international foundation Terre des Hommes – Lausanne. It became an independent Palestinian organization in 1997. The association focuses on health and nutrition sectors within the framework of primary healthcare, aiming to reduce common childhood diseases, malnutrition, and their complications. It provides preventive and curative services, along with health education and psycho-social support programs for poor and marginalized families, primarily targeting infants and young children across the Gaza Strip.

MADISON-RAFAH SISTER CITY PROJECT
P.O. BOX 5214, MADISON WI 53705
madisonrafah.org
rafahsistercity@yahoo.com