so I guess I'll just dive on in. I've been hanging out here on DK for a few years because I find it to be a great source of news and thought and seriousness and silliness among people with whom I feel I have a political/ideological affinity. I'm interested in a lot of things, and DK has the kind of variety that keeps my curiosity stimulated if not satisfied. I like it here.
Throughout the time I've been here, I've noticed and clicked on a few dozen diaries pointing to ways to financially support different things. Some have been for people in crisis, some have been for candidates, some have been for causes and some have been for making a political statement about what an asshole the person requesting money has been.
I don't have much money. In fact, I live squarely in the Medicaid gap in Florida. Even so, I've been moved enough by some of those diaries to throw five or ten dollars in their direction when I feel that justice and peace will be served by my so doing.
Now it's my turn, I guess, to appeal to your sense of generosity and justice. My daughter, Mary, first went to the West Bank three years ago. It was the summer after her freshman year in college. She went to build a house for a Palestinian family whose home had been bulldozed by the Israeli government.
Mary subsequently finished her college with a major in international political economy and a minor in Arabic, spending each summer in the Middle East honing her language skills and absorbing the subtleties of the ancient cultures and their current struggles.
Now Mary has graduated, and she and her friend, Beheya, are going to Bethlehem to start a soccer camp for girls. The reason they're doing this is, in their words, to
use soccer as a platform to empower and develop the leadership skills of Palestinian refugee girls. Providing young women with a safe place to play soccer means providing them with a space in which they can develop the communication, confidence, connection, caring, and character that will enable them to become leaders of nonviolent resistance in their communities.
Mary and Beheya were awarded a Davis grant to get them started on this project, but it is barely enough to even cover their travel and living expenses while they're there. They know that for this project to achieve its goals, more money will be needed to equip the teams and build the fields and run the season finale tournament.
Today Mary told me that the man who coached her soccer team, from when she was 11 until when she left for college, has agreed to match any contributions to her GoFundMe campaign up to $2,000. This is really a great opportunity to support girls who face major hurdles of oppression to develop the skills they need to grow up to be young women like Mary and Beheya who make a positive difference in others' lives.
If justice for Palestine is an issue that moves you, this is truly an opportunity to make a difference. Thanks for reading.
Here's the link to the GoFundMe site.
