johnchimentI'm going to ask everyone who reads this to keep providing money to folk in Gaza. I know you're tired of seeing that ask.
I imagine many folk in the west are tired of hearing about problems in Gaza. I won't lie - there is a voice in my head that complains "you've already chipped in", or "you have problems too"... stuff like that.
But that voice is the voice of privilege. I have the luxury of simply walking away, of deciding this just isn't something I want to help with any more. My troubles are first world problems - I didn't get all the laundry done today, lunch was more than I wanted to pay when I took the family out to an uncomfortably hot day at a pumpkin patch - and they are the dreams of people in war zones.
Those people are tired. They're tired of scraping food together for their children. They're tired of nights interrupted by rocket fire. They're tired of moving this way and that way, trying to follow evacuation rules that shift like the wind.
And since the various involved governments and militaries aren't going to stop fighting, there is a bottomless need for money to keep those in the crossfire alive. Its easy to make a generous donation to a gofundme or chuffed page, feel good about helping, and then feel annoyed when that person asks for money again. But that generous donation? that bought bread for a day, and tomorrow is another day...
I am not a rich man. But I have enough to share. And my belt? It can be tightened. I was a soldier and know a little of what these folk are experiencing (no - I don't claim to have experienced it as my patrols ended at stocked chow halls on bases with running water. But I saw it, every day), and I can make this lift to help them get to a moment's peace.
And if we all keep working together, maybe we can stretch that moment into something longer.
Celia Valdeolmillos
Guillermo Zapata
Ger Comics
Koala Rabioso
Insonorizate
Rodrigo Santamaría
chrysomeles