One day in Gaza

The hosts are trying to get us up and moving. We are given breakfast and tea and the bus to the car park / air strip is waiting for us. We need to take any more personal stuff out of the vehicles and the aid is being handed over. The process seems to take a long time. Some people who already have contacts for their aid are meeting up with them and here is our man for the specialist stethoscopy equipment again this time with his van.

















Its sad to leave this vehicle which I've spent so much time with recently but thats it now. I just have a bag of personal things (all chaotically scattered) and that's all. I leave the sleeping bag, mats, tents, cooker, food, water in the back. Lock up, leave the keys in the ignition and ready to go.
















While wandering around the car park I meet a man in a wheelchair with a large camera. He lost his legs in the bombing last year. He works as a photographer and his wife is also with him she works for an organisation supporting women. While I am speaking to them I meet Nitin and Mond. Nitin has managed to get into Gaza from the Freedom March. He realised the Freedom March was not going to be a viable way to get in after chaos in Cairo and approached the Indian embassy in Cairo for a letter of support. Mond is a Gaza resident and he is walking around with Nitin. We decide to move on together. The next stop after the car park handover is an event at what remains of the Palestinian Legislative Council building.

George G and others are making speeches here. I wander around the crowd and then around the back of the building where a soldier is very helpful and friendly taking pictures for me. I let the young people gathering around us with big grins on their faces borrow a camera to take pics of each other.




















The crowd is moving on the a large conference hall nearby. There we are given commemorative books, a scarf and offered seats for hearing with Ismail Hanya the Prime Minister. I realise that this is another event which may go on for some time and I'd really like to get out and look around a bit if possible.
















Mond asks who I would like to meet. I want to meet music producers or performers as I'd be interested in looking at the possibility of getting Fairtunes to work in Gaza. Mond gets on the mobile and we get out of the conference centre and to a coffee shop not too far away. After a short time some guys arrive who are from CampsBreakerz - BBoys breakdance crew. Shortly after this musicians from a band called Watar. Moh from Camps Breakerz has his laptop and plays footage from some of their past performances. We drink coffee and smoke a shisha and copy some music from my hard drive. When Watar come they play a song about Gaza on guitar which is beautiful. Tom plays some of his music from his band Divine Chaos.

















We don't have a lot of time and soon John 'Tyrone to Gaza' Hurson is meeting members of Gaza City Sporting club to donate kit for Gaelic football. So we walk over as its not too far away.