Dreams and Love in the Face of Violence

"Khalil was shot and killed by Israeli guards at the Qalandiya checkpoint near the West Bank city of Ramallah after he allegedly tried to stab one of them on 22 November. No Israelis were injured during the incident."

https://electronicintifada.net/content/month-pictures-december-2016/19106

Anything about Kalandia catches my attention, regardless of the way the word is transliterated. This one stood out with vivid clarity. That could have been Muhammad. Sometimes the characters we create in novels become real enough to appear in news articles. Muhammad, at least the hero of my novel Checkpoint Kalandia, never really existed. He never really had to be held down to keep from attacking the soldiers at the checkpoint, but his is the background I ascribed to Jihad Khalil. A situation that should never happen continues to be repeated…and repeated…and repeated for years, decades, and generations.

The people of Gaza live under even more repressive conditions than those on the West Bank, yet they continue to make art. They paint, they write, they produce plays, they make amazing music. The video below was one I found on the same website, electronicintifada.net. I find it great fun to find that hip-hop music has found a home in Gaza.

The English subtitles are hard to read, but the words are very uplifting. I have taken some liberties with their less-than-perfect translation:

We’re tightening our strength to be the people who never kneel down to death.
We give the mute dream persistence and voice.
We’re tightening our strength to be the people who never kneel down to death.
 Time passes fast. We still hold faith in our hearts
Immigration is not even an option for us
so we will resist the humiliation until we return
We still hold dreams in our hearts
Tomorrow they will be facts.
The bitterness will change to love
And carry the meaning of liberation.
Come sing with us. Let us fly.
We build the love of the land deep in our hearts
And keep it safe within us.
 Sing with us. Let’s all fly. Let’s all fly. Let’s all fly.
 We’re tightening our strength to be the people who never kneel down to death.
We give the mute dream persistence and voice.
We’re tightening our strength to be the people who never kneel down to death.

International Literacy Day
September 8, 2014

  "Literacy is a key lever of change and a practical tool of empowerment on each of the three main pillars of sustainable development: economic development, social development and environmental protection."

Former UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan

- See more at: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/unesco/events/prizes-and-celebrations/celebrations/international-days/literacy-day/#sthash.xl208HWW.Hay7bl2e.dpufhttp://www.unesco.org/new/en/unesco/events/prizes-and-celebrations/celebrations/international-days/literacy-day/#sthash.xl208HWW.Hay7bl2e.dpuf

Today is International Literacy Day, a day to celebrate and encourage literacy. All over the world tremendous strides are being made in literacy and education, but there are many notable exceptions. There are even places, such as Gaza, where literacy is moving the wrong way. Children are being hampered in their learning by external forces.

According to the New York Times, there are 648 schools in Gaza with 421 of the buildings being shared in double shifts. Since the recent violence, 34 buildings have been damaged beyond repair and dozens more need major repairs. Add the addition of 60,000 people whose homes were destroyed that are being sheltered in school buildings, and you have an insurmountable problem. (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/06/world/middleeast/broken-buildings-and-bruised-psyches-complicate-start-of-gaza-school-year.html?_r=0)

Schools are already three weeks late, and an opening day is not in sight. Even if schools were to open tomorrow, how many children would be able to study and learn? Democracy Now! Gives August 21 numbers as: 500 kids dead, 3,000 injured (over 1,000 of whom will suffer from lifelong disability), and 373,000 traumatized. Pernille Ironside, chief of UNICEF’s Gaza field office said, “There isn’t a single family in Gaza who hasn’t experienced personally death, injury, the loss of their home, extensive damage, displacement, The psychological toll that has on a people, it just cannot be overestimated, and especially on children."

http://www.democracynow.org/2014/8/21/a_war_on_gazas_future_israeli

Sadly, many of these children may never reach their full potential, yet there are ways we can help.

You can help UNRWA rebuild schools in Gaza

Click here to donate
***DONATE TO THE GAZA EMERGENCY APPEAL TODAY***

UNRWA must repair, rebuild, equip schools and they also provide food and counseling when they can.