Rafah's Children: Hope and Peace
Donation protected
Children born into war-torn Gaza deserve creativity, joy, fun and play.
Please help raise funds and awareness for a project that is doing really important work in alleviating some of the suffering in Rafah and giving something of a real childhood to kids born into a horrendous situation, who have already lived through 3 wars in their short lives.
The Right to Play project is partly organised and run by my good friend Anees. I met him in 2003 and we have stayed in close contact since. I have been consistently proud of his commitment to helping others and in admiration of his compassion and integrity. I have absolutely no qualms in vouching that he will use any donations given to make a positive difference to the children there.
However if this project does not receive £1500 by the end of January, to cover its next 6 months rent, it will be forced to close so I have set up this page in order to ask my friends and family to please just even give a £3-5 each and we can keep it going, giving some fun and creativity and spark to children who's lives are otherwise so miserable.
Whilst I was in Rafah I was struck that the children have nowhere safe or fun to go. I would see them playing on the ruins of demolished buildings and piles of rubble. Playgrounds are scarce and most of them have debris and mortar holes from the military assaults that characterise life in the Gaza Strip, which have also destroyed countless schools(1). Although there were and are projects aiming to alleviate the situation for children, they struggle for funding and resources and the need is so great.
The project creates opportunities for children in Rafah to come together to play, paint, sing, read, learn acting and many other activities. Right to Play is, unfortunately, quite a unique project, as there are few other organisations which are able to provide such opportunities due to the political and economic situation in Gaza. However hundreds of thousands of children across Gaza suffer from PTSD(2) and are in need of intensive psycho-social support.
Children here have lived through military clashes and brutal attacks which have seen them lose family members and friends. Many children are malnourished, not just because of a lack of food, but I also saw those that were too traumatised to eat or digest properly the food that they do get. The limited health services are unable to ensure that even their most basic health needs are met. As my friend, one of the organisers of the project, wrote: “What’s in our power, right now, is to provide a safe space for kids to work out and express their feelings and to develop skills that will give them a stake in their own futures.”
Please give whatever you feel able to to help volunteers bring smiles to the faces of these children. Please don't just share this page (although please do that as well!) but give even a few pounds. This project will close down if it can't fund its rent and bills. I know that Anees dreams of being able to take the children on more outings, such as to the beach, and your pounds will go so far in helping him to do this. Really, any amount is not just essential to the ongoing functioning of this project but also helps the children to know that people from the outside really care about their plight.
If you want to get more involved, to connect with the volunteers and children, please get in touch.
The money raised will go towards renting the space, utility bills, stationary, art and craft supplies and hopefully if over the minimum is raised, for vehicle hire and other costs for daytrips and outings for the children.
***
As many of you know, in 2003 I spent 4 months in Palestine, mostly in Rafah in the South of the Gaza Strip, as a human rights and peace activist and volunteer. I have subsequently trained as a nurse and dream of returning to the friends I made in Rafah to make a practical difference.
I was with both Rachel Corrie and Tom Hurndall in Gaza when they were killed by the Israeli army. In closing, here's some of what Rachel Corrie wrote about the children in Rafah:
“I think, although I’m not entirely sure, that even the smallest of these children understand that life is not like this everywhere. […] They know that children in the United States don't usually have their parents shot and they know they sometimes get to see the ocean. But once you have seen the ocean and lived in a silent place, where water is taken for granted and not stolen in the night by bulldozers, and once you have spent an evening when you haven't wondered if the walls of your home might suddenly fall inward waking you from your sleep, and once you've met people who have never lost anyone once you have experienced the reality of a world that isn't surrounded by murderous towers, tanks, armed “settlements” and now a giant metal wall, I wonder if you can forgive the world for all the years of your childhood spent existing—just existing—in resistance to the constant stranglehold of the world's fourth largest military—backed by the world’s only superpower—in it's attempt to erase you from your home.”(3)
(1) http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/oPt_74620.html
(2) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/gaza/11372893/Hundreds-of-thousands-of-children-shell-shocked-after-the-war-in-Gaza.html
(3) http://rachelcorriefoundation.org/rachel/emails
Please help raise funds and awareness for a project that is doing really important work in alleviating some of the suffering in Rafah and giving something of a real childhood to kids born into a horrendous situation, who have already lived through 3 wars in their short lives.
The Right to Play project is partly organised and run by my good friend Anees. I met him in 2003 and we have stayed in close contact since. I have been consistently proud of his commitment to helping others and in admiration of his compassion and integrity. I have absolutely no qualms in vouching that he will use any donations given to make a positive difference to the children there.
However if this project does not receive £1500 by the end of January, to cover its next 6 months rent, it will be forced to close so I have set up this page in order to ask my friends and family to please just even give a £3-5 each and we can keep it going, giving some fun and creativity and spark to children who's lives are otherwise so miserable.
Whilst I was in Rafah I was struck that the children have nowhere safe or fun to go. I would see them playing on the ruins of demolished buildings and piles of rubble. Playgrounds are scarce and most of them have debris and mortar holes from the military assaults that characterise life in the Gaza Strip, which have also destroyed countless schools(1). Although there were and are projects aiming to alleviate the situation for children, they struggle for funding and resources and the need is so great.
The project creates opportunities for children in Rafah to come together to play, paint, sing, read, learn acting and many other activities. Right to Play is, unfortunately, quite a unique project, as there are few other organisations which are able to provide such opportunities due to the political and economic situation in Gaza. However hundreds of thousands of children across Gaza suffer from PTSD(2) and are in need of intensive psycho-social support.
Children here have lived through military clashes and brutal attacks which have seen them lose family members and friends. Many children are malnourished, not just because of a lack of food, but I also saw those that were too traumatised to eat or digest properly the food that they do get. The limited health services are unable to ensure that even their most basic health needs are met. As my friend, one of the organisers of the project, wrote: “What’s in our power, right now, is to provide a safe space for kids to work out and express their feelings and to develop skills that will give them a stake in their own futures.”
Please give whatever you feel able to to help volunteers bring smiles to the faces of these children. Please don't just share this page (although please do that as well!) but give even a few pounds. This project will close down if it can't fund its rent and bills. I know that Anees dreams of being able to take the children on more outings, such as to the beach, and your pounds will go so far in helping him to do this. Really, any amount is not just essential to the ongoing functioning of this project but also helps the children to know that people from the outside really care about their plight.
If you want to get more involved, to connect with the volunteers and children, please get in touch.
The money raised will go towards renting the space, utility bills, stationary, art and craft supplies and hopefully if over the minimum is raised, for vehicle hire and other costs for daytrips and outings for the children.
***
As many of you know, in 2003 I spent 4 months in Palestine, mostly in Rafah in the South of the Gaza Strip, as a human rights and peace activist and volunteer. I have subsequently trained as a nurse and dream of returning to the friends I made in Rafah to make a practical difference.
I was with both Rachel Corrie and Tom Hurndall in Gaza when they were killed by the Israeli army. In closing, here's some of what Rachel Corrie wrote about the children in Rafah:
“I think, although I’m not entirely sure, that even the smallest of these children understand that life is not like this everywhere. […] They know that children in the United States don't usually have their parents shot and they know they sometimes get to see the ocean. But once you have seen the ocean and lived in a silent place, where water is taken for granted and not stolen in the night by bulldozers, and once you have spent an evening when you haven't wondered if the walls of your home might suddenly fall inward waking you from your sleep, and once you've met people who have never lost anyone once you have experienced the reality of a world that isn't surrounded by murderous towers, tanks, armed “settlements” and now a giant metal wall, I wonder if you can forgive the world for all the years of your childhood spent existing—just existing—in resistance to the constant stranglehold of the world's fourth largest military—backed by the world’s only superpower—in it's attempt to erase you from your home.”(3)
(1) http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/oPt_74620.html
(2) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/gaza/11372893/Hundreds-of-thousands-of-children-shell-shocked-after-the-war-in-Gaza.html
(3) http://rachelcorriefoundation.org/rachel/emails
Organizer
Alice Fleabite
Organizer
