Evan's Big Swim For Gaza

I asked the walnut tree, “Where is home? Where are the girls?

Where are those evenings of song?”

She answered softly

as if from her rebirth:

“Home will rise again,

the girls will return, the songs will be sung,

and all of it will be reborn

from beneath the rubble.

As I am.”

From Whispers of the walnut tree - Fatena Abu Mostafa

https://wearenotnumbers.org/whispers-of-the-walnut-tree/

That's an excerpt from a poem by Fatena Abu Mostafa, a writer who is part of We Are Not Numbers (WAAN). I liked it because it made me think of sitting under the walnut tree in my garden, and how easily I can see Fatena doing the same. WAAN are an organisation on the ground in Gaza developing and promoting young Palestinian writers, sharing their stories and poetry, helping their writing get out into the press and the world. Donations to WAAN help with things like their writer training program and direct payments to writers for their work.

I'll also be supporting Gaza Soup Kitchen, which runs a number of community kitchens throughout Gaza, as well as water deliveries and medical aids, and its continuing to provide good food and clean water throughout the blockade and the famine.

A friend pointed out that these organisations represent bread and roses. I love it. Palestinians deserve bread but they deserve roses too. The genocide continues, famine continues, but the Palestinian people are embracing sumud and we in the West must rise to this and support them. Please donate, as much as you can, we are 18 months into the latest wave of 77 years of genocide, with no clear end in sight.

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So, the big swim.

In mid-July I'll be swimming the length of Wast Water in the Lake District, which is about 5K long. I've not really swum very much before, certainly not any long distances. This week I did my first 1K, and it went... alright. I'll be swimming it with my friend Leo who is a much more capable swimmer than me, has already swum several of the Lakes, and who is going to make sure I don't drown (we'll also have a support boat dw).

In the next six weeks I'll be training and building up the distances I'm able to cover, and will update with my progress. I am aiming to raise £1000 and split this evenly between We Are Not Numbers (via their donate page ) and Gaza Soup Kitchen (via this GoFundMe ). Will you help me?