The sports equipment and school supplies the Rebuilding Alliance sent on the MV Rachel Corrie, one ship in the Freedom Flotilla, was intended for Al Basma Club for the Disabled. Al Basma provides sports and recreational activities for deaf and disabled youth and adults. Members of the club play a variety of sports, including soccer, volleyball, table tennis, and swimming.
Besides athletic activities, Al Basma encourages cultural and artistic development by organizing events where its members paint, draw, create small crafts, and perform dabka, an Arabic dance tradition.
Read Kate Gould’s blog about her recent visit to Al Basma Club, and what the people at the club have to say while the sports equipment the Rebuilding Alliance sent for them is still undelivered.
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.”
Meet some members of Al Basma Club.
