What If CWs Could Connect Directly to Gaza Communities?
Could direct cash aid from people in affluent countries bring relief to families under siege in Gaza? That’s the question driving musician Garry Jones, husband of Kate Hennessy (granddaughter of Dorothy Day), as he partners with Palestinian poet and journalist Yusuf El-Mbayed and Vermont videographer Michael Hanish to bring essentials like food, clean water, and small comforts to Gazans facing extreme deprivation. Working around restricted aid channels, Jones has launched a crowdfunding initiative to deliver critical funds directly to Gaza, providing a lifeline to El-Mbayed’s community relief projects. Their vision goes beyond immediate aid, hoping to create ongoing, meaningful connections between communities across borders.
What if people in affluent countries were able to provide cash assistance—and emotional support—directly to people under siege in Gaza?
That’s the basic idea behind an initiative being proposed to the Catholic Worker community by Garry Jones, an Irish musician and composer, with the support of his wife, Kate Hennessy. (Hennessy is a writer and the granddaughter of Dorothy Day.)
Jones got the idea after connecting with Yusuf El-Mbayed, a Palestinian poet and journalist based in northern Gaza, who works with a team of young Gazans to deliver critical aid to Gazans suffering from deprivation and conflict.
“Our major projects have been building eight toilets in the northern Gaza Strip for the homeless community to give them access to basic sanitary amenities,” El-Mbayed shared in a recent appeal letter. He and his team aim to provide clean water, food, and small comforts for children and families, from toys and fresh fruit to planned “pastry days” to bring hope amid the hardship. “We hope to fill the bellies of the hungry with wholesome meals like spaghetti, rice, and other delicacies.”
Jones, who is based in Ireland, connected with Yusuf through a friend, Vermont-based videographer Michael Hanish. Hanish had been helping Yusuf raise funds for his 10-year-old nephew, Hamood, who lost a leg and his whole family in an Israeli rocket attack.
“The idea of connecting specific groups in the affluent countries with specific communities in Gaza came about after I had been video chatting with Yusuf in north Gaza and developed a relationship with him and his neighbours that has become very important to me,” Jones wrote in a recent email to the Roundtable newsletter. “Yusuf is such an amazing young man! He is a source of constant inspiration for me, as is his community. They are living in unbelievably terrible conditions, constantly living with threat of annihilation and still they maintain their dignity, humour and sense of beauty. I know if others can develop a relationship in this way, some long-lasting and special connections will be made.”
Jones has created a Gaza Relief Crowdfunding Page on iDonate for the purpose of helping to raise money for Yusuf. Donations get to Gaza through “an improvised digital pipeline,” according to Jones, because the lack of infrastructure, security, and functioning institutions have constrained traditional aid channels. Adding to the difficulties getting aid to Gaza is the Israeli Knesset’s recent decision to ban UNRWA operations in Palestinian areas.
A United Nations report warns that nearly 80 percent of Gaza’s population now relies on humanitarian aid for survival as ongoing hostilities have devastated essential infrastructure, cutting off access to food, medicine, and clean water.
Now, Jones hopes this initiative spawns a longer-term support model in which affluent western communities are directly connected to communities in Gaza in a sort of sister-city program.
“I want to help form real, ongoing, lasting relationships between these groups, like what we do already [in Ireland] with the Twin Towns program, only far more important and immediate,” he said. “If any readers want to investigate setting up their own support group, please feel free to contact me at garryjones365@hotmail.com and I will help any way that I can.”
Those interested in supporting El-Mbayed can contribute through Jones’s IDonate page, which is linked to a Revolut account used to transfer funds directly to Gaza relief efforts. The campaign can be found at idonate.ie/crowdfunder/gazarelief. Read appeal letters from Jones and El-Mbayed below.
Letter from Yusuf El-Mbayed
Greetings, compassionate souls across the globe!I hope my urgent appeal finds you all well.
We are a group of passionate and resilient young individuals from the war-torn North side of the Gaza Strip. In the face of unimaginable hardship and starvation, we have come together with a collective purpose: to bring light to the darkness and restore hope to the hearts of our fellow Palestinians in Gaza.
The terrible situations we see on a daily basis have permanently altered our souls. Our resolve has been strengthened by witnessing the heartbreaking images of kids perishing from starvation and injury. We were initially assisted by kind donors, but the stark reality of budgetary limitations now poses a danger to our progress. We are starting this fundraising effort with urgency, reaching out to the goodwill of people everywhere. Our mission is to supply Gaza’s population with the necessities for surviving the ongoing genocide and the war being fought against them using the terrible weapon of famine rather than destructive weaponry.
Our major projects have been building eight toilets in the northern Gaza Strip for the homeless community to give them access to basic sanitary amenities. We urgently need to extend our programs and provide relief to people without shelter. Basic needs like food, clean water, clothes, and cleaning supplies are now luxury items. The lack of fuel makes it more difficult to obtain the water needed for survival. The homeless face unspeakable suffering in filthy circumstances while compelled to live in improvised tents.
With the help of your donations, we will be able to present the kids with toys and fruits, ensure that drinking water tanks are purified, provide free meals and pastry days, and plan encouraging events to give traumatised hearts a break. We hope to fill the bellies of the hungry with wholesome meals like spaghetti, rice, and other delicacies. Additionally, since our people’s clean water supply is dependent on these wells, we strive to maintain and restore them. We also need to stock toilets with the necessary supplies. We try to give hospitalised patients small gifts of love and support and to provide a supportive hand to the committed medical staff who work so hard to save lives. These initiatives just scratch the surface of need.
It’s going to be a difficult journey with significant expenditures. Nevertheless, every dollar or euro you give makes you a force for good, a ray of hope in the shadow of despair. We will be able to lift our imprisoned brethren in Gaza up and give them comfort, smiles, hope, and solace because of your kindness. Donations of any size are welcome, since even the smallest gesture may have a profound impact. Let’s keep lending a helping hand together!
PS: I welcome you to visit my Facebook page, where I chronicle our activities and the precious smiles we bring to these innocent youngsters, so you may see firsthand the enormous impact of your contribution.
With heartfelt gratitude and unwavering determination,
Yusuf El-Mbayed
Cover photo: Gazans line up for water. Photo via Garry Jones.
