Dear Readers, click
Apologies for the ‘radio-silence’ these past few days but there are several reasons for that. The first being that Orange, sales the worst telecommunication company I have ever had the misfortune of dealing with, here has left me stranded without Internet access or technical support. The second being that I have not been around a computer for the past three days of so, and this is because of reason number three: Gaza.
Our little campaign exploded in to something indescribable. You simply had to be there to see it and many of you reading this were in fact there, and I thank you for your presence, support and help.
Let me start by saying that this was meant to be a 48-hour, emergency clothes and food drive for Gaza in an attempt to get the goods across the border as quickly as possible. That was the idea. It was probably the first, or amongst the first campaigns to be launched in Jordan, and that affected the turnout immensely. With that in mind, it started as a 7iber-led campaign in partnership with the Action Committee, and via the 7iber website and the posting of a simple Facebook event, the campaign spread like wildfire. In less than 48 hours it had spread through email forwards, SMS forwards and on-air radio alerts, blogs and word-of-mouth.
On Tuesday night, the rain began to gently fall and as soon as members of our team arrived, a whole hour before the official start time, people had already begun to deliver their donation. Everything that happened after that is almost like a haze at this point. I remember people coming out no where; car after car after car. I remember the entire street outside the Cozmo area being pretty much shut down for over three hours. I remember young Jordanians of every background, people I didn’t know, hanging around on this muddy street corner, in the scattered rain, just helping load the goods on to these large red Aramex trucks. I remember the riot police, fully armed and under the impression we were demonstrating. I remember how they ended up directing traffic for us with their batons.
By ten, we moved next door to Cozmo, where people had been delivering goods all day due to a miscommunication about the drop-off point. This didn’t go over to well with the Cozmo people but luckily it was sorted out – to a degree.
I remember everything being organized on-the-spot. None of us had any idea the volume of goods we would be receiving. Trucks were loaded one after the other, with young people volunteering to tag along to the Aramex warehouses to help unload the donations and send the trucks back to us empty. I remember the fog being so thick that you could hardly see the car in front of you on the way there.
I remember seeing the sheer volume of donations piled up in mountains, sprawled across the warehouse floor.
The next day was New Year’s Eve but we managed to get just enough people, arriving in different shifts throughout the day, to help sorting. This process has taken about four days as of now.
We are talking about roughly 40 tons of donations.
All collected in 48 hours, if not less.
In my opinion, this has been one of the largest and quickest mobilizations of young Jordanians working for a single cause under emergency circumstances that I have ever seen.
During those three days of sorting, I think there were hundreds of young people coming and going. They worked tirelessly and unapologetically. They didn’t complain. They worked straight from the heart.
In the past ten years, I have personally participated in at least a dozen of such events and in all honesty, I’ve never seen something quite like this before. If the lights weren’t turned off in the warehouse and people forced to go home, I think everyone was prepared to work through New Year’s Eve.
And I have to admit, this has been a pretty interesting learning experience for me. I discovered that Jordanians, whatever their backgrounds or beliefs, can be united in times like these. I discovered that there is a young, active population just waiting to participate; just waiting for an undertaking like this. I also discovered the pitfalls of launching such campaigns and the dangers of underestimating the power of people’s willingness to be affected by what they see on TV, and immediately react to it.
Lastly, I learned that for something of this magnitude, a lot of people will come to your aid when called upon to do so and for those people I will need to dedicate a whole other post to thank them.
Forthcoming.
Happy New Years!
40 tons! What you, 7iber, and the Action Committee did is awesome. Jordan’s mobilization is nothing short of miraculous and I am honored to have been a tiny part of it. Should you guys need further help, keep us posted… I know that God’s blessing will be on each of you in this new year…
I didn’t think I would read such a heartwarming Gaza-related post that has put a big smile on my face (actually I have-and they all had to do with this ‘gaza campaign’). I encouraged my sister and friend to be there and help out based on the updated information on 7iber…I only wish I could have been there myself, allah ya3teekum il3afya!
“I discovered that Jordanians, whatever their backgrounds or beliefs, can be united in times like these. I discovered that there is a young, active population just waiting to participate; just waiting for an undertaking like this.”
It’s kinda bittersweet that this collective goodness shows up and is actually discovered at a time of ordeal Gazans are going through… but such honorable, spiritual, humanistic collectively really does prove that Jordanians of all walks of life are innately good! This perhaps is the only catharsis i feel right now, ever since the savage assault on Gaza started.
Ya3teekum el3afyeh!
Nas, you all (7iber/Action Committee) provided an alternative outlet for all the pent-up emotion in people’s hearts. You all provided a format for positive expression of anger, helplessness and created unity.
Really, it’s BIG. I can’t wait to read what you have processed. You all gave a distracted generation a cause, and a way to achieve it. I am astonished, and so proud. THIS is what the Umms and I have been waiting for with all the potential in young hearts to have a way to be channelled for a future good.
But as Sec said, sad it took a tragedy. But that is what it takes most of humankind, anyway.
40 tons, wow that was a lot, I hope it has reached the victims in time.
ya3teeko el 3afya and happy new year to you all!
Allah ya3teekom el 3afieh. Excellent work guys. Thank you so much.
The power of civil society… Thanks for the amazing initiative NAS!
Thanks to you and 7iber for giving people a constructive outlet for their feelings and solidarity. It was an amazing experience to join the others at Cozmo…the pleasant suprise of being part of something huge! Will contact the ongoing 7iber and Aramex campaigns, as I have a group of middle school – eighth graders with two more weeks of winter break and wanting to help.
Nas, one request, can you start placing the new posts at the TOP of your blog, instead of stringing them at the end of the Dec 28 one – when people open the blog it looks like nothing new since then…just an idea. Thanks.
Many, many thanks to you and all you do, Nas. Truly heartwarming in a time when I struggle to feel something more than the vile cold and disgust over what is happening.
ya3teekom 2l 3fieh excellent work..
and yeah Orange are crap!
Amazing initiative – masallah. I would just like to know if you still take any donation? I have been in Palestine the last 10 days and just came back so I did not knew that there have been this project to support Gaza.
Please let me know if I still can donate clothes or something else.
I am very heart broken, that i wasnt there by your side helping you. i didnt know about this until now, i did recieve an sms from a friend talking about a donations collection point by Cozmo, (i think it said IN cozmo!) but i thought mojamma3 innaqabat is just closer to me.
i really am so heartbroken. please bro, do inform me for any similar coming events! i will be most thankful.
Good.
hmmm 🙂
in the first 3 hours we collect Around 25 Ton
the rest came in the next 24 hours 🙂
It was a amazing we enjoy it ,and discover many things 😉 , and Learn more
It was to work with u Guys 🙂
Action Committee
I told you Nas two years ago that young people like you are the hope of the whole Umma. You just needed a cause to show how great you all are. Alas, we have no Charismatic leaders to drive you but hey who needs them when we have all of you.
Just wanted to let you all know that we, in the USA, managed to donnate to your effort! If there is a will, there is a way! You reaching far and wide!
Wonderful.
Many many thanks to all of you.