We are delighted with the tremendous response to our fundraising campaign! From November to the end of December, we raised an impressive €1,433.76! We were particularly pleased that the audience generously filled the donation pot at our two chamber concerts in the Humboldt Hall. In addition, we received several individual donations to our account, including one for €200 and two for €100. And we were especially delighted that the ElSurenCanto choir also collected donations for our fundraising campaign during their Christmas concert and was able to contribute another generous sum.
We would like to express our heartfelt thanks to all donors and hereby conclude this campaign for the time being. After consulting with the management of the Edward Said Conservatory in Ramallah, the association's board has decided to make the collected donations available directly to two exceptional music teachers in Gaza, whom we have already reported on here. We were able to transfer the donations to Fouad Kahder and Ahmed Muin Abu Amsha before Christmas. Both teach children in Gaza under the most difficult conditions, make music together, conduct choirs and music groups, and give their students so much. This is a great ray of hope and a very important sign for the people there!
Fouad Khader is a musician in Gaza, music teacher and coordinator at the conservatory. It was very moving for us to see, showing on his Instagram page, how they are now able to hold their first lessons again, despite the massive destruction of the building. He shows how the choir is finally meeting again for rehearsals, how the pupils are coming together for rhythm lessons. And all this despite the fact that almost everyone there is currently living in makeshift tents. Heavy rainfall and winter storms are making living conditions in the tents extremely difficult, especially at this time of year.
More information about Fouad Khader can be found on his Instagram and GoFundMe page:
https://www.instagram.com/fo2adkhader/
https://www.gofundme.com/f/rebuilding-my-life-studio-after-losing-everything-in-gaza
A wonderful guitar teacher – Ahmed Muin Abu Amsha – also made a deep impression on us. With his warmth and dignity, he always brought the children together to make music. After months of flight, hunger and great suffering, they managed to build a place together in the refugee camp near Al-Zawaydah – under a tent made of parachute fabric – and to meet there again and again to make music. The videos touched our hearts deeply, showing how, in the midst of this great suffering, music was able to bring a small smile to the children's faces.
More information about Ahmed Muin Abu Amsha:
https://www.songsfromtherubble.com/
https://www.gofundme.com/f/hello-peace-help-innocent-people-to-survive
Follow Ahmed Muin on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/ahmedmuin_abuamsha/
Fouad Khader, Ahmed Muin and his colleagues are heroes to us – heroes who stand up against hatred, violence and destruction. And who use their warmth, humanity and the power of music to fight for a better, fairer world. Music can help heal the traumas and wounds of war. Not today, not tomorrow, but slowly and surely, a new, peaceful life can be rebuilt.
And finally, as always, our call to support those in the Israeli civil society who are courageously working for precisely this peace and reconciliation with the Palestinians. More and more people – especially young people – are distancing themselves from Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing government and calling for an end to the ongoing violence. Everything must be done on both sides – Israeli and Palestinian – to finally end the spiral of violence that has been going on for decades! There must be coexistence between Israel and Palestine, in which both countries tolerate each other and cooperate peacefully. The road to this goal will be extremely long and difficult, but we would like to try to help a little and promote understanding and cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians. Any support for peace is extremely important, especially now and especially from Germany.
Rabbis for Human Rights
Rabbis for Human Rights (RHR) was founded in 1988 and is committed to promoting and protecting human rights in Israel and the Palestinian territories. RHR consists of rabbis and rabbinical students from various Jewish traditions – including Reform, Orthodox, Conservative and Reconstructionist – and is guided by the deeply rooted Jewish values of justice, dignity and equality.
https://www.rhr.org.il/eng
Standing Together
In Israel, the NGO Standing Together is committed to peaceful coexistence. To a society that chooses peace, justice and independence for Israelis and Palestinians, Jews and Arabs. A society in which everyone enjoys genuine security, adequate housing, good education and healthcare, a liveable climate, adequate wages and the opportunity to age with dignity.
https://www.standing-together.org/en/about-en
