answering a couple questions i got on this post since i realized ppl genuinely wanna know:
tl;dr:
israel lets very, very little aid get into gaza. even the UN can’t get in as much as they want to. funding individual families, gazan led initiatives, and mutual aid collectives operating out of gaza ensures gazans can provide for themselves and pay for the extremely expensive aid that is available.
with all the civil infrastructure destroyed by israel, the situation on the ground has devolved into unrestricted capitalism, driving up the price of aid (that should be free!). this makes it more urgent for people to have funding for daily survival.
the post linked above has examples of how donating to individual families can help a lot. if you want to help more than one family at a time, there are many gazan-led initiatives focusing on rebuilding their infrastructure and distributing aid fairly that are worth donating to instead of large charities that already get the majority of donations.
as i mentioned in the last post: @/careforgaza on twitter is a nonprofit started by gazans, it’s been endorsed by multiple palestinian journalists.
the sameer project is a collective organized by diaspora palestinians offering emergency shelter to gazans.
ele elna elak is a project aiming to bring water, food, shelter, etc. to gazans and has been promoted by bisan owda.
all of these organizations are active inside gaza right now and are being run by gazans. if anyone knows of other gazan-led mutual aid projects, nonprofits or charities feel free to link them in the notes! hope this helped!
plugging gaza soup kitchen for those with the means to donate! it’s another gazan-led initiative currently providing food, water, classes for children, and medical care across the north and south. you can donate through their website or their gofundme, or follow them on instagram for news about their projects
please also consider taking a look at dahnoun mutual aid (instagram link), another ghazzawi-run initiative doing great work using very little funds! they’re currently distributing winter clothes for young children, as well as food and water, infant formula, tents, and cash. they’ve also got a chuffed
[Image shows a poem with a space down the middle. The poem can be read in full, or either side can be read separately. The left side is titled, “penelope”, and the right side is titled, “odysseus”.
The penelope side reads,
dearest, time rolls on and our son grows taller, and i realize that we were just children when we married. i’m a woman, now- i want to know, what do you look like with gray in your hair? i imagine you still smell like fresh earth. i imagine you’re still out there.
The odysseus side reads,
i remember you and your voice is in the sea, and this has been twenty years; playing with love, with fire, going off to war still holding your flowers. a man, a promise. you must be so beautiful; do you have laugh lines? now i hope you still pick flowers- hyacinths, bluebells. you’re still waiting. i’m still waiting.
Together they read,
dearest, i remember you and time rolls on and your voice is in the sea, and our son grows taller, and this has been twenty years; i realize that we were playing with love, with fire, just children going off to war when we married. i’m still holding your flowers. a woman, a man, a promise. now- you must be so beautiful; i want to know, do you have laugh lines? what do you look like now with gray in your hair? i hope you still pick flowers- i imagine you still smell like hyacinths, bluebells. fresh earth. i imagine you’re still waiting. you’re still out there. i’m still waiting.
when i was a child i had a reoccurring dream that i lived on antarctica. i would gaze out from the cliffs of the mainland and would sabotage ships which discovered the archipelago.
ALT
