Can Soccer Shoes Open the Blockade of Gaza?

The Rachel Corrie Ramadan Soccer Tournament is now underway in Rafah, Gaza on a field cleared from the rubble of demolished homes. The Rebuilding Alliance, the organization I founded to rebuild war-torn communities and make them safe, just sent a shipment of 16 big boxes of gently worn sports shoes donated by hundreds of people for Gaza. Will our shipment make it through the blockade? Will it make a difference?

 Overall, I am proud to tell you that through hundreds of small and large donations, we installed a portable office unit on the field just before the Ramadan Tournament began. This little building is the first step in developing a community center at the Unity Club Soccer Field, there on the edge of the Ybnah Refugee Camp in Rafah. In addition, proceeds from the GlobalGiving Ready, Set, Give competition (we won first place!) have now been fully transferred to Gaza, via the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme, so that some lights are already being installed this week. We continue fundraising through GlobalGiving.com to be able to complete the "Beam of Light Ramadan Soccer Project in Rafah" and extend tournament play (and community-building) into the night.

Why send soccer and sports shoes? Some are playing soccer barefoot on that hard-packed sand. They need shoes, but the blockade means few if any shoes are available and no jobs, no money with which to buy them. Back in the spring, Adnan in Rafah asked for used sports shoes so we put up a big sign at the Rebuilding Alliance office and hundreds of people in our neighborhood donated their gently-worn sports and soccer shoes, and uniforms. More would give too, but let's see if we can get these through the blockade.

Yesterday, Cindy and Craig Corrie, the parents of the young American who was killed when she stood before the Israeli Army bulldozer that threatened a Palestinian family's home, and Rachel's friends with the Olympia Rafah Sister City Project (ORSCP), left Cairo to reach Rafah to join Rachel's friends in Gaza for the Rachel Corrie Ramadan Soccer Tournament. We scrambled to get the shoes boxed up and sent to Cairo where Craig Corrie tried to pick them up for the mini-bus trip to Gaza. Our 16 boxes (325 pairs) arrived on Sunday. We hoped Customs would release them to the ORSCP delegation to bring the shoes with them through the blockade. As it was, the shoes were released to the Egyptian Foreign Ministry -- and just the soccer uniforms already in luggage, were cleared for transit.

I have so many questions about the benefit of sending gently worn soccer shoes to Gaza. Here they have no value, but there, if we can get them through, they could mean a lot. Logistically, used sports shoes are a low-cost way to press through the blockade (no tariffs, no possible security risk, easy to pack and ship). At each step along the way, more and more people join in to help, e.g. lots of schools want to do shoe drives, the freight forwarders cut their price by half and paid for pick-up. The head of a receiving company in Cairo said that he will do all he can to help, "As a Palestinian, a Gazan, and a human being."

 I don't know if this will be successful ... it feels so small in the face of big governments' (our's, Egypt's, Israel's) misguided, intractable blockade -- policies of collective punishment. I take a leap of faith (sometimes just a fragile thread) that the outpouring of goodwill here and all along their way matters. As the shipment moves forward, we are developing the grassroots and diplomatic network needed to reach our next goal: to get building materials in. "Crunchtime" is defined as a critical moment or period (as near the end of a game) when decisive action is needed. This is crunchtime for the blockade. May our collective goodwill score the winning point and end the blockade game decisively.

My team here at the office reminds me that, "Small things in life really matter." The connection between the person who donated his shoes, her shoes to the person who receives them, that connection can brings out the best in us all. Do you agree? What does this mean to you? Please comment below. Over the next week, as the shoes and delegation near Gaza, I'll update you on their progress -- and when the shoes get stuck, I'll ask you to call your Senators and Representatives and then thank them gracefully when the way opens.

Follow Donna Baranski-Walker on Twitter: www.twitter.com/RebuildingAll

Comments

[Donna Baranski-Walker - Huffpost Blogger]

Hi All,
Thanks for your comments. Here's the lastest regarding the soccer shoes:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/donna-baranskiwalker/will-egypt-allow-rachel-c_b_288255.html

[sephardi]

Maybe the shoes can come into Gaza through all the tunnels between there and Egypt. I know that that the main object of thse tunnels is to smuggle weapons into Gaza, but I'm sure the benevolent Hamas authorities can make an exception for such a worthy cause.

[MosheDayanHero]

Actually Hamas CHARGES Gazans to use their tunnels. Inventive people, these Hamas.
Hey, a militant's gotta get his bribe.
Imagine Vietnamese charging a fee to use the The Ho Chi Minh trail. Kind of like that.LOL.

[MaresJH]

Dear Donna,
I'm just finishing Rabbi Brad Hirschfield's Book: You Don't Have to Be Wrong for Me to Be Right. I think that Sephardi's comment that the shoes can come into Gaza through the tunnels is a creative idea and one that should be tried as it would be beneficial to both Israel and Palestine. For Israel, the smugglers would be busy smuggling something good for the young people of the community instead of weapons that kill Israelis and for the Palestinians they would believe that Americans care about their children and will do what is non-violently necessary to get those slightly worn shoes to them. Maybe Sephardi will help?

[alexa07]

Donna,
Your detractors perhaps don't understand that denying the humanity of an entire people & their culture does not reduce that people, rather it reduces their own humanity. The occupation of Palestine degrades, dehumanizes not the victims but the perpetrators as it also corrupts them with a sense of false power over others. Thanks for helping those Palestinian kids. The work you do is absolutely extraordinary.

[MosheDayanHero]

As soon as Gazans overthrow Hamas, the Iranain puppets, they can also join in the economic Renaissance that is going on in some West Bank Palestinian cities. Not before.

[MosheDayanHero]

Can Soccer Shoes Open the Blockade of Gaza?
No. Only Palestinian ouster of Hamas can achieve that,

[FirstBiteBooks]

It seems to me that so far the only shoes that have made any difference in international politics are the ones thrown at an American president abroad.

[MosheDayanHero]

Do enlighten us what difference did this shoe thrower actually made in international politics. I mean besides getting his 15 minutes of fame and being arrested and beaten by Iraqi police?

[FirstBiteBooks]

How do you prefer to enlighten you? Shall I throw a shoe at you or you will just get some common sense by yourself?

[alexa07]

"At each step along the way, more and more people join in to help, e.g. lots of schools want to do shoe drives, the freight forwarders cut their price by half and paid for pick-up."

Donna, thank you for all you do & please keep us informed. I hope the momentum that is moving so many around the world to support the Gazans does NOT stop at the borders. But if crayons, textbooks & even the richly nourishing foods, beverages like dates & orange juice are spitefully forbidden, will sports shoes be allowed? Let's hope this is the last straw for the foolish members of the US Congress who still maintain the Israelis with "unwavering support" in the face of grave inhumanities. A growing number of Americans are appalled at our leadership. Let's hope the sports shoes become the symbol of craven spitefulness on the part of many & the refusal of the Palestinians to aspire to only what the Israeli govt defines for them. It's been more than 60 yrs. & the Palestinians have NOT given up. The kids need to get their shoes, but I imagine they will continue to play ball, regardless because Palestinians just don't give up, but let's hope the shoes make it through. Let's hope also that someday the Israelis will wake up to realize the Palestinian people are one of their greatest assets, & accept them as equals in a society for all.

[MosheDayanHero]

"Let's hope also that someday the Israelis will wake up to realize the Palestinian people are one of their greatest assets, & accept them as equals in a society for all."
Israelis treat those Palestinains who give up terrorism as human beings--read about current West bank prosperity.
Israelis treat Palestinains who chose to perpetrate terrorism as enemies.
As soon as Palestinian society as a whole decided that co existence is better than Shaheeds and Jihads, they will have their own state.
Not before. Soccer shoes and your hateful rhetoric notwithstanding

[Louise66]

The civilians of Palestine have been unjustly ignored by the international community at large for years. Thank you Donna for your work and for honoring Rachel Corrie. Rachel is the definition of courage and bravery. Rachel Corrie spoke out for a people that have been blantanly and purposefully ignored by our "fair country and media." If an American had been killed in the exact same circumstances as Rachel, in any other country supported by the USA, there would have been full coverage and statues in honor of her courage and support to do the right thing. When did we as a people stop seeking the truth. When did we stop to support the weak? Are we so lazy that we depend upon strong lobbys to tell us what to believe?!

[MosheDayanHero]

"The civilians of Palestine have been unjustly ignored by the international community at large for years."
Palestinian have been ignored? What Universe did this comment comes from, I wonder.
The obsession with Israeli Arab conflict is the main feature of most world's media sources for the past 60 years.

[FairuzGhowar]

I'm sending a pray the shoes get to the kids. To quote the great Eunice Kennedy Shriver, these children too have:
“The right to play on any playing field? You have earned it. The right to study in any school? You have earned it. The right to hold a job? You have earned it.”
“The right to be anyone’s neighbor?” Eunice Kennedy Shriver says. “You have earned it"

[FairuzGhowar]

Not sure why this came out so funky...th­e gist of it is even Palestinian kids trapped living in Gaza have the right to play so let them have used shoes for crying out loud.