–An article by Rebuilding Alliance volunteer Kate Gould
Street in front of Al Basma Club in downtown Gaza City
“You know, all Palestinians are disabled,” Eid Shaqura told me as soon as I arrived at the Al Basma Club for the Disabled. All the
board members in the room laughed and I sat down to join them. “All of us are disabled,” Eid continued, “whether physically, psychologically, or in some other way. It’s life here.”
Al Basma Club for the Disabled is a non-profit, non-political, all-volunteer Gaza NGO providing sport and recreational opportunities for people with disabilities in the Gaza Strip. It is the only sports club in the Gaza Strip to specifically focus on the needs of deaf and disabled people. 150 deaf and disabled people are registered members with their club, but dozens more have yet to be registered and the number is growing all the time. The athletes compete with other deaf athletic teams as well as able-bodied teams. One of Al Basma’s teams had just won first place in its competition with the Palestinian Football Federation for the Disabled. Half of the team was chosen to go to the championship, but can’t go since it’s in Jordan, which is so difficult for Gazan Palestinians to receive permits to visit. I asked Eid how sports impacts the rest of a deaf athlete’s life.
“One of the characteristics of deaf people is that they are especially anxious, but through sports we help them create a new
mentality,” Eid explained. He described how sports boosts their self-esteem and radically increases their ability to trust other people and to calm themselves. Later, I told Eid I had never heard before that anxiousness and difficulty in trusting people were associated with deafness.
“Of course! Imagine that you live your whole life never understanding the people around you,” Eid said. New members arrived in the room, introduced themselves, and immediately began a conversation in Arabic I didn’t understand. I sat back trying to figure out what was going on when Eid turned towards me and smiled. “See, now you are deaf.”
AL BASMA CLUB
Eid Shaqura, Chairman of the Al Basma Club. The only soccer balls available for purchase in Gaza under the blockade come through the tunnels from Egypt. The soccer ball Eid is holding cost $50 (due to inflated prices of all goods through the tunnels) but after only two kicks it split and deflated. The Rebuilding Alliance bought soccer balls for the MV Rachel Corrie to bring to Gaza, but all of its cargo has been impounded by the Israeli government.
Eid Shaqura and Abeer Jaber co-founded the club in 2005 when deaf kids were playing soccer in the street and tried unsuccessfully to enter a club for able-bodied persons. Eid was called and asked to solve the problem. Both Eid and Abeer previously worked for the Palestinian Sports Federation for the Disabled. Disabled by polio in her youth, Abeer has been involved in the disabled community for most of her life. Eid has worked with disabled people from childhood as well, beginning with caring for his uncle who was paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair. ”We had a dream — just one dream — to establish a new club for the disabled people.”
Eid estimated that about 20,000 deaf people live in the Gaza Strip. Most are born deaf while others become deaf later in life. Some children became deaf from Israeli airstrikes nearby. Over half of both the overall population of the Gaza Strip and its deaf population are under 18. Doctors Without Borders reports that 5,300 Gazans were wounded in the 2009 assault on Gaza, while the World Health Organization estimates that 20,000-50,000 will experience long term psychological illness from that war. Al Basma Club has become a crucial hub of empowerment for Gaza’s rapidly expanding deaf and disabled community.
MORE THAN SPORTS — A COMMUNITY
I was sitting on a couch at the Al Basma Club when deaf members of the Club flooded in, beaming with pride as they shook Eid’s hand and then my own. Eid explained that they had just returned from their temporary jobs with the International Red Cross, which he had secured for them. The job was only 15 days long, but for many of them it was the first paying work they had ever been able to get. It gave them a sense of great pride and a boost of confidence to be able to provide even the smallest share of income to their families.
According to the World Health Organization, the unemployment rate in the Gaza Strip is 42%. The Future Society for Deaf Adults in Gaza estimates that the unemployment rate for deaf adults in Gaza is 72%, as the deaf population faces widespread discrimination in finding employment.
Me with Abeer Jaber, Secretary General of the Al Basma Club for the Disabled
I spoke with Shaher Ziara, one of Al Basma’s soccer coaches about what kinds of changes soccer made to the lives of these athletes. He told me how he would make regular visits to the athletes homes and their families would often come watch their games. ”Parents would often tell me that playing soccer changed their behavior. Their kids used to be distrustful of people, but after joining the soccer team they would be much friendlier and trusting,” Shaher told me.
DREAM POTENTIAL WITH THE FLOTILLA CARGO
I asked the members about the importance of the flotilla cargo to them. The MV Rachel Corrie cargo included soccer balls, footballs, sports uniforms, sports equipment, and school supplies designated for the Al Basma Club. Eid explained that due to Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip, the only available sports equipment enters through the tunnels, and all of these goods are of an extremely poor quality and very expensive.
The only soccer balls available for purchase in Gaza under the blockade come through the tunnels from Egypt. The soccer ball Eid is holding cost $50 (due to inflated prices of all goods through the tunnels) but after only two kicks it split and deflated. The Rebuilding Alliance bought soccer balls for the MV Rachel Corrie to bring to Gaza, but all of its cargo has been impounded by the Israeli government.
Eid Shaqura using an exercise machine that the Al Basma Club bought for $100 just a month ago but already it is falling apart. After just one use the back board split and had to be repaired by one of the deaf carpenters in the Club. The Rebuilding Alliance bought new exercise machines for The Al Basma Club but all of the cargo on the MV Rachel Corrie was impounded & is currently being held by the Israeli government.
Eid estimated that a new soccer ball in Gaza costs $50. However, these balls do not last for more than a few games. After just two hard kicks the soccer balls split in half and deflated. The three exercise machines on the flotilla would double the number of exercise machines Al Basma Club has, bought one month ago for $100 each. ”After being used just once, one of them was already broken,” Eid told me as he showed me where the wood had splintered. I examined the exercise machines and was astonished by just how flimsy they looked. They seemed to be on the verge of falling apart.
Abdallah Abu Halloub is the Head of the Deaf Committee of Al Basma Club, which makes him a spokesman for the deaf members at Al Basma. I asked him what most excited him about from the flotilla cargo which was intended to arrive at Al Basma. ”I will be particularly happy to see my children’s faces when they receive new backpacks,” Abdallah said through Eid’s translation from Palestinian sign language into English. Eid explained that since none of the members on the Al Basma board are paid, he had hoped to give them backpacks for their school-age children.
Hazim Abu Halloub is one of Al Basma’s first members. He is from Beit Lahiya, and his neighborhood was heavily bombarded during the 2009 assault on Gaza. His family had to leave for his uncle’s house, farther away from the center of the bombing, and explained to me that “deaf people can’t hear the bombs, but we can feel each one of them.” He was one of the deaf young people playing soccer in the street whose failed attempt to get into an able-bodied persons club led to Eid’s and Abeer’s decision to found Al Basma Club. He is from Beit Lehiya and his entire family had to move during the war. New uniforms will encourage not only the soccer team but also all the deaf kids in the community. It will provide the new generation motivation to practice this kind of sport and believe more in themselves.”
COMMUNITY AWARENESS
Hazim Abu Halloub is a deaf soccer player & member of the Al Basma Club. He is 20 years old and has been an athlete with the Al Basma Club from the very beginning.
“There is discrimination here–many people think deaf people are dumb,” Eid explained. ”Part of what we’re doing here is spreading community awareness, and showing that our members are talented and that really we’re all equal.”
Eid showed me pictures of a bike race last spring in which one of Al Basma’s deaf athletes won 5th place. I scanned through pictures of gleeful deaf women on an outing to the beach — a rare opportunity for them to be together. I was amazed to see the sorts of opportunities Al Basma Club provided for the deaf and disabled: swimming competitions, human rights courses, table tennis tournaments for athletes confined to wheelchairs, and well-attended workshops on disabled persons’ rights. Al Basma’s athletes are bursting stereotypes that have crippled disabled people more than any disability ever has.
Supporting deaf and disabled people is extraordinarily important in any society, but during my three days in Gaza I was struck by how particularly important it is for this large population of people on a small strip of land. The number of people left deaf and disabled by war and poverty in Gaza has been steeply increasing, so providing support to this population is extraordinarily important for supporting stable foundations for the future of this besieged society.
