Stories of Hope
Doing Hope... at Christmas

Words: 
Chris Rose

Photography: 
Mohamed al-Masri, Nick Welsh, Alex Whitehead
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Over the past year, it has felt as if hope has been buried under the rubble of Gaza.

It has been as impossible to hear ‘another world breathing’ as it has been to hear the Palestine sunbirds sing. We have seen the very worst of people’s inhumanity and the outlook remains bleak.

The Christmas story teaches us that hope is not ethereal wishful thinking. It is gritty and exists in the dirt of everyday life. It says that hope is best understood through the birth of a baby to a teenage mum in a village under brutal military occupation.

But hope is a doing word. As Mariame Kaba says, “Hope is a discipline — we have to practise it every single day.” Over the past year, I have seen people doing just this — demonstrating remarkable acts of hope.

We have had a million protestors walking through the streets of London and hundreds of other cities. It is the student camps, Run the Walls, Big Rides and numerous other walks, rides and runs. It is the amazing food events and fundraising meals. It is concerts and vigils and so many other simple acts of solidarity.

‘Doing Hope’: The young journalists from We Are Not Numbers documenting the untold stories of Gaza
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I have seen it in our partners on the West Bank — continuing to teach children ‘beautiful resistance’ in Aida camp, rebuilding demolished homes, helping families remain on their land, creating a community centre in the shadow of the Separation Wall and quietly providing food aid for those who have had no income for the past year.

But I have seen it most powerfully in the work of our partners and colleagues in Gaza and their remarkable stories.

Partners in Gaza

Al Ahli Arab Hospital
Mohammed Najar heads the social work team at Al Ahli Hospital in Gaza City.
On 1st October 2023, he launched Rosie October for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. A week later, Al Ahli were providing emergency medical care. As the shelling intensified, more and more people sought refuge at the hospital.

Mohammed was organising food, shelter and children’s activities for the thousands there on 17th October when the hospital was attacked. The next morning, he led the response and faced the press following the killing of nearly 500 people the night before.

A Place of Peace: Al Ahli ‘Baptist’ Hospital in Gaza City, before and after the bombing on 17th October 2023
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When he could no longer travel to Gaza City from Khan Younis, where he lived with his family, he set up and managed an emergency medical clinic in Rafah for the one million people sheltering there. When Rafah was invaded, he did the same in Al Mawasi from a portacabin. His home in Khan Younis is now destroyed, his family have been displaced ten times, and yet he still runs the Al Ahli clinic every day.

DSPR
The DSPR (Department of Service to Palestinian Refugees, aka NECC) closed their centres on 8th October as they were in target areas. But, by the end of November, they had opened a medical clinic and a psychosocial centre for children in Rafah. When Rafah was invaded, they continued to operate from a mobile clinic. When their centres in Gaza City were destroyed or badly damaged, they took whatever equipment they could salvage and opened two drop-in medical and trauma centres. In September, they converted a wedding venue into a medical and trauma centre.

We Are Not Numbers
I could tell many more stories of people ‘doing hope’ in the most unbearable circumstances. The young journalists from We Are Not Numbers (WANN) documenting the untold stories of Gaza. From the local organisations we have partnered with to deliver vital food aid.

Gaza Sunbirds
And, of course, from the Gaza Sunbirds Paracycling team, who have delivered incredible work within their community. Their founder, Alaa al-Dali, even managed to represent Palestine at the Cycling World Championships while his heart was breaking for his wife and young children in Gaza.

Incredible work: Alaa al Dali from the Gaza Sunbirds paracycling team
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If the rhetoric of Israeli politicians is to be believed, the coming year may be even harder for Palestinians than this last awful year. In the face of this, it is vital that we come together to continue to provide solidarity and support — and to once again ‘Do Hope’.

Chris Rose
Director — Amos Trust
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Amos Trust Christmas Appeal

You have repeatedly ‘done hope’ this year and given so generously to our Emergency Appeal. 

This Christmas, we are asking you once again to support these incredible projects. Every gift donated online through the Big Give between the 3rd and 10th of December will be doubled with the support of The Compassion Fund. You can give by visiting amostrust.org/christmas-appeal.

Money raised by this appeal will go to DSPR’s essential trauma work with children and their mothers, Al Ahli’s rehabilitation work and emergency support, young writers at We Are Not Numbers, and emergency food programmes. Every donation will make a tremendous difference.
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