New Prosthetic Leg's for Amer Gasmi
Donation protected
A few days ago I woke up to a video sent from my sister that was posted on BBCThree Facebook page(link below)
https://www.facebook.com/Ouch.BBC/posts/1584529568230554
The video was so touching and just reading a lot of the comments asking if there was ways for people to donate were abundant and knowing that I have spearheaded a successful one before I knew I had to make a move.
I tagged a few of my friends and one comment lead to the next and next thing you know I'm speaking with the kid in the video Zulu Rema! I asked if he was interested in letting me set up a GoFundMe project because I have done them before and was a success. That paired with so many people hitting him up asking ways to help we decided the best way to go about it was to launch this campaign. The past few days we have been communicating via translator. We have become friends. He is an interesting person the more I learn about him the greater respect I have been gaining for him as a person.
I did some research to find out that prosthetic legs can cost anywhere from $20,000-$30,000 for mid level one's and up to $50,000 for top quality one's. Made the goal at $25,000 this may change as another part to this is a funded trip to a International Bboy Event of his choice which is part of his dream that we as a community can make happen.
We are shooting at raising funds for the next month.
This would mean a lot to make something like this happen for someone as special as Zulu Rema just the short time I've been able to message with him he has been extremely greatful just for even being brought to this point. And if we can get him some new equipment and ultimately to an event would make his dreams come true!
Please help and let us hit our goal!
My name is Chris Wright I am also globally known as Cros One organizer of the event Freestyle Session one of the biggest Bboy/Bgirl(Breakdancing) Events in the USA and World. I live in San Diego, Ca and have been a part of the worldwide Bboy communuty since 93 actively. I have helped and spearheaded a few fundraising projects but to date this will be the biggest.
How the funds will be used.
1. We will be receiving the funds here in the USA.
Under my business name
Freestyle Session Inc.
909 Correa Lane
Spring Valley, CA 91977
2. We will either wire the funds to his parents or will wire the funds to the entity in which we will purchase the new proethetics legs from.
3. Any leftover funds will be wired directly to Zulu Rema's parents or given to him in person.
Check out some amazing pictures of Zulu Rema by Yoriyas - http://www.yoriyas.com/no-excuse
September 2016, Hammamet, Tunisia. The UK B-Boy Championships North Africa Qualifier 2016 is in full swing. Hip hop beats are bouncing off the dancefloor on the beach, invisibly kicked around a clapping audience by the pop ‘n lock, air flare, and elbow hop moves of breakdancing contestants. Sneakers are shining and stakes are high, as finalists from this Maghreb round go on to the World Finals. B-boys from all corners of the region showed up in the touristy Tunisian town to represent their country, being Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, or Algeria. Yet one breaker in particular stands out from the dancing crowd, not merely because of his visible passion and perseverance, but also because he is missing his legs.
Emeer Guesmi, also known by his b-boy name Zulu Rema, is a 16-year-old art student/dancer hailing from the everyone-knows-everyone town of Hammam Zriba, in the northern Tunisian Zaghwan governorate. When he started suffering from a rare medical condition at the age of two, doctors thought to have no other option but to amputate both of his legs.
“I started listening to hip hop a couple of years ago. I fell in love with Biggie’s songs straight away. One of my friends is DJ Gamra; he’s the best DJ in Tunisia. He helped me discover hip hop music, and I keep on discovering more by searching online,” the Tunisian b-boy reminisces, and names the Egyptian diva Oum Kolthoum, gangsta rapper The Notorious B.I.G., the Tunisian hip hop collective Zomra الزمرة, and Jedi Mind Tricks, an underground hip hop duo from Philadelphia, as some of his favorite artists. “I started breakdancing only three years ago. Because I lost my legs I was sitting at home all the time. I felt useless. I tried football, but I was practically shooed away. I really felt like giving up. But then my close friend Nader Jawadi convinced me to join a breakdance workshop at our local cultural center when he saw me one day on my way home, using my arms to move forward.”
Although he was not that warmly welcomed into the breakdance scene either, Emeer’s friend motivated him to fight through. “He was a b-boy himself and invited me to his group. We trained and trained and trained, until I became good. Nader came up with my artist name: Rema because it’s my first name spelled backwards, and Zulu from Zulu Nation,” he says. Yet life hit the legless dancer hard a second time around when his dear companion died in a motor accident, in front of his eyes, in September this year. “Nader is part of my best breakdance memories, and he is the one who inspires me to keep dancing,” Zulu Rema sighs. “Even after his death.”
One of the brightly coloured tags drawn on one of the b-boy’s prosthetic legs spells out ‘immortal’ and is a tribute to his deceased friend. “Graffiti artist Fahed Dghim made it for me. It’s a message I chose, from me to Nader.” Luckily Rema still finds a support system within his family. “Whenever I receive criticism, my parents tell me to stay strong, keep on dancing, and not to listen to stupid things people say,” he smiles.
Zulu Rema, who has taken part in both small and bigger battles such as Red Bull BC One Tunisia and the WARZONE Battle, dreams of winning big breakdance competitions. As to many (mostly socially vulnerable) of his age, hip hop has offered the young Tunisian a way to find a group of peers to belong to. Hip hop was already on the rise long before the 2010 revolution and has gained only more importance ever since, stepping out of the margin. For a considerable number of Tunisia’s youth, the subculture has become a tool to criticise and question society and the government, to blow off steam, to resist, and to speak about what is on their mind. Local graffiti projects and the birth of organisations stimulating urban/hip hop culture such as Art Solution, which co-organised the UK B-Boy Qualifier in Hammamet, underscore this.
The dancer says however that he regularly puts up with criticism from fellow Tunisians, and that he hopes of migrating some day. “People here don’t respect my hobbies. They hate us. That’s the worst thing about being a b-boy,” he adds. “Life here is not good at all. I hate living in my country. But hip hop means everything to me, and without it I would die. I found real people in hip hop, unlike the fake ones I meet elsewhere. When I dance, I feel happy. It’s all I have, and it’s my life. My connection to hip hop and breakdancing is exactly what has kept me from doing drugs and going down the wrong path like many others I know did.”
https://www.facebook.com/Ouch.BBC/posts/1584529568230554
The video was so touching and just reading a lot of the comments asking if there was ways for people to donate were abundant and knowing that I have spearheaded a successful one before I knew I had to make a move.
I tagged a few of my friends and one comment lead to the next and next thing you know I'm speaking with the kid in the video Zulu Rema! I asked if he was interested in letting me set up a GoFundMe project because I have done them before and was a success. That paired with so many people hitting him up asking ways to help we decided the best way to go about it was to launch this campaign. The past few days we have been communicating via translator. We have become friends. He is an interesting person the more I learn about him the greater respect I have been gaining for him as a person.
I did some research to find out that prosthetic legs can cost anywhere from $20,000-$30,000 for mid level one's and up to $50,000 for top quality one's. Made the goal at $25,000 this may change as another part to this is a funded trip to a International Bboy Event of his choice which is part of his dream that we as a community can make happen.
We are shooting at raising funds for the next month.
This would mean a lot to make something like this happen for someone as special as Zulu Rema just the short time I've been able to message with him he has been extremely greatful just for even being brought to this point. And if we can get him some new equipment and ultimately to an event would make his dreams come true!
Please help and let us hit our goal!
My name is Chris Wright I am also globally known as Cros One organizer of the event Freestyle Session one of the biggest Bboy/Bgirl(Breakdancing) Events in the USA and World. I live in San Diego, Ca and have been a part of the worldwide Bboy communuty since 93 actively. I have helped and spearheaded a few fundraising projects but to date this will be the biggest.
How the funds will be used.
1. We will be receiving the funds here in the USA.
Under my business name
Freestyle Session Inc.
909 Correa Lane
Spring Valley, CA 91977
2. We will either wire the funds to his parents or will wire the funds to the entity in which we will purchase the new proethetics legs from.
3. Any leftover funds will be wired directly to Zulu Rema's parents or given to him in person.
Check out some amazing pictures of Zulu Rema by Yoriyas - http://www.yoriyas.com/no-excuse
September 2016, Hammamet, Tunisia. The UK B-Boy Championships North Africa Qualifier 2016 is in full swing. Hip hop beats are bouncing off the dancefloor on the beach, invisibly kicked around a clapping audience by the pop ‘n lock, air flare, and elbow hop moves of breakdancing contestants. Sneakers are shining and stakes are high, as finalists from this Maghreb round go on to the World Finals. B-boys from all corners of the region showed up in the touristy Tunisian town to represent their country, being Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, or Algeria. Yet one breaker in particular stands out from the dancing crowd, not merely because of his visible passion and perseverance, but also because he is missing his legs.
Emeer Guesmi, also known by his b-boy name Zulu Rema, is a 16-year-old art student/dancer hailing from the everyone-knows-everyone town of Hammam Zriba, in the northern Tunisian Zaghwan governorate. When he started suffering from a rare medical condition at the age of two, doctors thought to have no other option but to amputate both of his legs.
“I started listening to hip hop a couple of years ago. I fell in love with Biggie’s songs straight away. One of my friends is DJ Gamra; he’s the best DJ in Tunisia. He helped me discover hip hop music, and I keep on discovering more by searching online,” the Tunisian b-boy reminisces, and names the Egyptian diva Oum Kolthoum, gangsta rapper The Notorious B.I.G., the Tunisian hip hop collective Zomra الزمرة, and Jedi Mind Tricks, an underground hip hop duo from Philadelphia, as some of his favorite artists. “I started breakdancing only three years ago. Because I lost my legs I was sitting at home all the time. I felt useless. I tried football, but I was practically shooed away. I really felt like giving up. But then my close friend Nader Jawadi convinced me to join a breakdance workshop at our local cultural center when he saw me one day on my way home, using my arms to move forward.”
Although he was not that warmly welcomed into the breakdance scene either, Emeer’s friend motivated him to fight through. “He was a b-boy himself and invited me to his group. We trained and trained and trained, until I became good. Nader came up with my artist name: Rema because it’s my first name spelled backwards, and Zulu from Zulu Nation,” he says. Yet life hit the legless dancer hard a second time around when his dear companion died in a motor accident, in front of his eyes, in September this year. “Nader is part of my best breakdance memories, and he is the one who inspires me to keep dancing,” Zulu Rema sighs. “Even after his death.”
One of the brightly coloured tags drawn on one of the b-boy’s prosthetic legs spells out ‘immortal’ and is a tribute to his deceased friend. “Graffiti artist Fahed Dghim made it for me. It’s a message I chose, from me to Nader.” Luckily Rema still finds a support system within his family. “Whenever I receive criticism, my parents tell me to stay strong, keep on dancing, and not to listen to stupid things people say,” he smiles.
Zulu Rema, who has taken part in both small and bigger battles such as Red Bull BC One Tunisia and the WARZONE Battle, dreams of winning big breakdance competitions. As to many (mostly socially vulnerable) of his age, hip hop has offered the young Tunisian a way to find a group of peers to belong to. Hip hop was already on the rise long before the 2010 revolution and has gained only more importance ever since, stepping out of the margin. For a considerable number of Tunisia’s youth, the subculture has become a tool to criticise and question society and the government, to blow off steam, to resist, and to speak about what is on their mind. Local graffiti projects and the birth of organisations stimulating urban/hip hop culture such as Art Solution, which co-organised the UK B-Boy Qualifier in Hammamet, underscore this.
The dancer says however that he regularly puts up with criticism from fellow Tunisians, and that he hopes of migrating some day. “People here don’t respect my hobbies. They hate us. That’s the worst thing about being a b-boy,” he adds. “Life here is not good at all. I hate living in my country. But hip hop means everything to me, and without it I would die. I found real people in hip hop, unlike the fake ones I meet elsewhere. When I dance, I feel happy. It’s all I have, and it’s my life. My connection to hip hop and breakdancing is exactly what has kept me from doing drugs and going down the wrong path like many others I know did.”
Organizer
Chris Wright
Organizer
Spring Valley, CA
