[HCCN] Fwd: last days in Gaza

Sun Aug 22 00:22:17 UTC 2010

Begin forwarded message:

>
>
> --- On Sat, 8/21/10, Ridgely Fuller <rpfuller18 at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> From: Ridgely Fuller <rpfuller18 at hotmail.com>
> Subject: last days in Gaza
> To: "Ridgely Fuller" <rpfuller18 at hotmail.com>
> Date: Saturday, August 21, 2010, 1:54 AM
>
> Hi All,
>
>
>
> NO electricity starting early in this morning which is  a first for  
> me ..so hope my battery will last to cut and paste this message  
> which I will try to  send later ..the blackout periods have become  
> more numerous and prolonged. The electricity shortage could  so  
> easily be remedied by simply  increasing the fuel supply and  
> allowing the repair of the one interior electrical plant is also  
> critical. The entire population is punished by these dreadful  
> blackouts,a constant and humiliating reminder to the Palestinians  
> here of Israeli control of every minute of their lives.This total  
> control being the reason international law does not consider Israel  
> to have lifted the occupation of Gaza even though their settlers no  
> longer  physically occupy this area. Economists name this  
> manipulation of the electrical supply as part of the Israeli plan  
> of  deliberate "de-development of Gaza" which has been implemented  
> in various forms for dozens of years.
>
>
>
> I plan to spend the last few days here training new  
> ‘Playmakers’..those adults who work with children in the   
> psychosocial group play imparted to me by Project  Joy. It is  
> really fun and so rewarding to see  these mostly young men and  
> women learn to happily interact in a comfortable way unusual in  
> their customary single sex education and very limited social  
> contact. So, the team at the Al  Qattan Center for the Child   
> initially could  only  muster quiet smiles in our  play routine  
> ( even through loud 'meow' and 'moo' yoga stretches !) until I got  
> to the more rambunctious games of ' We, the Protector' (great in  
> Palestine!), 'Whose Team am   I  On?' and an adapted  variation of  
> Ultimate Frisbee. During the later the large space was so filled  
> with physical activity and gales of laughter that I could totally  
> remove myself and just take  pictures.After they finally stopped  
> the men and women came  thanking me, noting they themselves have  
> little experience in play..and making me promise to come work with  
> them again on Sunday.
>
>
>
> Similar experience  south in with the Gaza Mental Health Center in  
> Deir el Balah  and north in Beit Hanoun with the Local Initiative… 
> I remind myself that I really am asking alot of these folks to be  
> so stimulated when they are not eating,DRINKING, and the heat is  
> breaking all records ( yesterday again in the high 90s…110 temp  
> in ‘comfort index’ due to the humidity.I have never been so  
> consistently wet..just sweat).
>
>
>
> And in the last days I would like to tie up loose ends which  
> includes completing some of the ‘missions’ you all have sent me  
> on..I like these always leading to new adventures ..….the first  
> mission involved looking into the “Gaza Mall’ which opened in  
> July and the Israeli PR department is desperately  trying to use  
> as “there is no problem,no humanitarian crisis in Gaza..look at  
> this fancy Mall” I asked some of the young Playmakers about the  
> new Mall and they burst out laughing..Eman offered to take me to  
> the Mall in the afternoon..As the picture indicates its entrance is  
> barely two peoples' arms length wide...8 small stores, a  
> supermarket and a restaurant. It is full of goods, much of which  
> comes through the tunnels from Egypt and much is Israeli as you can  
> see in the photo with Eman.I interviewed the few customers as well  
> as the General Manager,Salah-Al Dine Abu Abdo, who  expresses the  
> overwhelming opinion when he says" all products here are enough for  
> 10% of our needs.We need medicine, machinery, construction  
> materials.Many have died due to lack of medical equipment and  
> medicine. Many thousands live without homes.That is what we need,  
> this Mall is nothing."
>
> According to him the 'Mall' itself is an old building bought by a  
> civil engineer who has lived and taught in Canada for the past 10  
> years.His original intent was to turn it into  a typical indoor  
> market  with small stalls but lack of ability to import necessary  
> material even then( various Israel economic embargoes have been  
> going on for a long time ) led the building to languish until this  
> period  of severe unemployment when  construction workers cleaned,  
> painted and really shined up the place. Regardless of the  
> Palestinian dismissal of the 'Mall' as superficial in terms of  
> their real needs I do see it as an example of the persistence and  
> ingenuity of the people who are able to get this small piece of  
> modernity off the ground despite being under a stringent economic  
> blockade.
>
>
>
> I think Eman's our  own story which emerged during our visit is  
> more illustrative of reality here. Her Father, a professor  in  
> Qatar, returned to Gaza  some years ago and opened 5 appliance  
> stores throughout the  Gaza Strip. During the winter 2007  the  
> Israeli airforce gave the family a ten minute warning via phone  
> before destroying the family home in Rafah as their equipment had  
> misidentified the washing machines and televisions as weapons. The  
> night time bomb displaced 40 some extended family members  and   
> destroyed four adjoining homes. Her father closed all the stores  
> except one and moved the family to Gaza City. Interesting side  
> story Emman tells is after her house was bombed the Israeli  
> Airforce  warned a family in the Jabalya refugee camp their house  
> was next,,,the family said "NO" and gathered  hundreds of people on  
> the rooftop..seeing this the Airforce held off destroying the house  
> until the invasion in 2008-9.
>
> Eman's story doesn't end there: during the past 6 years  she has  
> been awarded a total of 6 scholarships to study in France and  
> Germany but has not been able to access any as Israel will not  
> grant her exit papers.Again, the policy of de-development of Gaza  
> when young people are not allowed to study/maximize their potential  
> for themselves or their people.
>
>
>
> I am now off on a mission requested by New England's wonderful  
> friends Mazin and Jessie who asked me to find and  deliver a  
> Ramadan gift to a family somewhere in the huge maze of Gaza City.  
> Our friends 'adopted' this family back in 2002 when the young  
> daughter, shot in the eye by Israeli sniper and was flown to  
> Connecticut for medical treatment.This mission will surely be an  
> adventure as I have learned taxi drivers generally have no idea  
> when one hands them an address, even written in Arabic.Destinations  
> are eventually  found when the drivers repeatedly stop and ask the  
> whereabouts of specific families in their neighborhoods.I recruited  
> a new young Palestinian friend who so admires Mazin and has dreams  
> of studying in the UK to help guide and translate for me on this  
> mission.
>
>
>
> Take care,
>
>
>
> Ridgely
>
>
>
>

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