Walking for Gaza 2016

The drop of a bomb. The explosion of their homes. The screams of their little sister and the wails of their mother. This is the daily soundtrack of the Palestinian child as you switch radio stations in your car, blissfully oblivious to what's happening on the other side of the world in a war-torn country. Blood flows through the streets as sirens pierce the chaos of pounding fists, plunging bodies and the harrowing cry of the husband who's just lost the mother of his child. This is the reality of the Palestinian child as you make your way to college, feeling slightly guilty because you cringed away from your mum as she kissed you goodbye but brushing it off because you'll apologise to her the second you step through the front door later that day. Displaced from their home, left to freeze out in the harsh winter as they starve to their lonely deaths, they silently beg for a shred of mercy from their Western counterparts. This is the life of the Palestinian child as you are safe in the knowledge of coming home to a warm home, a meal on your table, a roof over your head. They curl up in the corner of a dirt-stricken road that was once filled with the laughter of children but that now lies cold and desolate, haunted by the cries of broken souls in the middle of the night; they silently re-live the horrors of the last 24 hours in which they watched their friend take a bullet to her head as she walked home from school and the memory of it drives them insane insane insane. This is them being dragged kicking and screaming into adulthood though they are only seven, six, five years old. This is the childhood of the Palestinian child as the possibility of being robbed of an education doesn't even cross your mind when you walk through the college doors, your eyes and mind shielded from the human atrocities that are taking a life with every breath that you take.

In 2014, Palestine once again suffered at the hands of the Israeli blockade; its consequence was the death of over 2,200 people, the destruction of over 20,000 homes, and the displacement of 500,000 in Gaza. In wake of this conflict, hundreds of thousands of children fell victim to the severe mental and physical after-effects of war-time experiences following weeks of surviving airstrikes and naval and tank shelling. Many of them helplessly watched the life drain from their mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters. Others saw homes, schools and mosques explode into nothing. Some suffered life-altering injuries. Most, if not all, were left to deal with its aftermath; the detrimental effects of unprecedented levels of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and depression with which healthcare workers in Gaza are struggling to keep up with.

Muslim Hands UK are this year carrying out their 8th annual Gaza Winter Walk. Thousands of us across eight cities in the UK will brave the cold and walk 5 miles in a fundraising campaign that endeavours to raise money for the children of Gaza that have become victims of the war against Palestine that continues to rage on. Help me to help Muslim Hands change the life of children that have been immeasurably broken by the injustice of war. Your kind donations will contribute to the re-building of homes and the support of the Muslim Hands psycho-social centre which will offer crucial mental and emotional care that they desperately need.

I hope that so many of my faithful readers will support this worthy cause - I'm not asking you to walk 5 miles in the freezing cold (although if you're inspired to then feel free! The more the merrier!) but whilst I put on my boots and wrap up with my scarf and gloves on that cold Sunday morning, I ask you for a small act of compassion. I ask you to sponsor me in pushing my already faulty body thermostat to breaking point, and making my muscles scream in agony as I stagger out of breath towards that finish line of the 5 mile course. It doesn't have to be a big sum but whatever you can donate would be so unbelievably appreciated. Not just by me and Muslim Hands, but by the life that you are saving on the other side of the world.

If you've reached the end of this post - thank you simply for reading. And if you do choose to donate in the name of my Gaza Winter Walk - thank you thank you thank you for your generosity, compassion and support. Thank you for your humanity x