Gaza has undergone over 1,000 days of genocide; see the tragic statistics here.
After a long silence, the Gaza Twinning work is being re-launched. Now is the time to double down on our efforts to support the Gazan people, who fear the world is forgetting them after so much death and destruction. Gaza had one of the highest literacy rates worldwide and a rich cultural heritage, as well as eight universities, before the war, in a place with over 2 million people. Gazans have not lost this education and ambition; we can do much to support them.
Not just with money (even though new projects such as The Gaza Children Village, with its growing network of schools serving over 8,800 vulnerable children and orphans deserve our cash), but with work that we have been doing for years: giving IT and design work- and work experience- to Gazans over the net through groups such Gaza Sky Geeks (who continue to function, even though their premises have been destroyed by Israel), helping Gazans learn English for free to improve their employment prospects through our collection of volunteers, who work with Gazans 1-1 over WhatsAp and finally, giving the chance to Gazans to teach us Arabic in turn (for £20/hour!).
Other projects are ongoing, all based on sharing skills over the net, in the fields of medicine, accountancy, graphic design and so on.
So- if you want to help, please email info@twingaza.com
Please indicate if you:
- Want to volunteer working with Gazans on a 1-1 basis on WhatsAp doing English classes (see English and Arabic with a Gazan)
- Want to learn Arabic with a Gazan, paying £20/hr and using the “Lets Speak Arabic” textbook, such as Ali or Rozan (see English and Arabic with a Gazan)
- May want a website built in Gaza, working with a fully qualified Gazan with excellent English, such as Saleem Sumour (see Your Website- Built in Gaza)
- May be involved in a body (eg a large organisation with an IT Dept) or be a freelance website builder yourself, which may want to offer a work placement online to a Gazan (already well-qualified in IT) through the Gaza Sky Geeks mentoring programme; note that Gaza Sky Geeks will pay the Gazan throughout the placement
- May want graphic design work done by a Gazan, such as Rozan: see her website The Rozza Agency
And remember, if you want to help Palestine by purchasing produce made in Gaza and everywhere else in Palestine, go to Hadeel – you can buy mail order or visit their Fairtrade shop in Edinburgh. And if you know a Palestinian who wants to get help studying, tell them to look here
Finally, we continue to pursue Edinburgh Partnership “to consider whether there are any activities or projects which may be mutually beneficial and its members would wish to work with the people of Gaza on”. See https://www.twingaza.com/what-you-can-do/#partnership
