I’m writing to you in support of continuing The Olympia-Rafah Sister City Project’s work in Gaza. I also would like to to update you with this post on a few things we’ve already accomplished, and what we hope to achieve in 2007. I plan to be in Rafah for a large part of the year, and hope I can count on your assistance to move this project ahead.

There are few chances for optimism in Gaza these days. The new year begins with only increased hardship for our sister city, Rafah, located at the southern edge of the Gaza Strip, cramped and hemmed in by the ostensibly closed border with Egypt. No doubt you’ve been following the news detailing increased violence, hunger and poverty in the region, the result of U.S.-backed policies of isolation and economic starvation after Palestinians went to the polls last year. Disengagement has led to the current situation, compendiously summarized by journalist Amira Hass in the October 4, 2006 edition of Ha’aretz: “The experiment was a success: The Palestinians are killing each other. They are behaving as expected at the end of the extended experiment called ‘what happens when you imprison 1.3 million human beings in an enclosed space like battery hens.’”

The sister city project encourages people-to-people connections. We promote engagement at a grassroots level. More than ever, our friends in Rafah need to know they haven’t been abandoned by the world at large, and that there is hope on the other side of the wall constructed around them.

It’s the positive impact behind the connections we create with Rafah that spurs the sister city project to get endorsements from across the spectrum by groups such as Gaza Community Mental Health Programme, Rabbis for Human Rights, the International Trauma Treatment Program, Jewish Voice for Peace, Women in Black, The Rebuilding Alliance, Israeli Physicians for Human Rights and many others. The work we do bridges cultural divides and educates both our communities. Beyond that, there is the basic need for people in Rafah to connect to the world outside.

Over the past few years, we’ve raised funds to construct a playground for children in Rafah, helped rebuild the home Rachel stood in front of, raised money in Olympia to bring medical supplies to Rafah medical facilities, co-sponsored tours of Palestinian speakers traveling the United States and helped with the first annual Peace works conference in Olympia. We’ve sent two previous delegations to Rafah and have hosted people from there in Olympia.

As you may know, this sister city project was the idea of Olympia native Rachel Corrie, who was killed by an Israeli military bulldozer on March 16, 2003, as she protested the demolition of a Palestinian family’s home in Rafah. “I continue to believe that my home, Olympia, could gain a lot and offer a lot by deciding to make a commitment to Rafah in the form of a sister-community relationship,” Rachel wrote while living in Rafah. “Some teachers and children’s groups have expressed interest in e-mail exchanges, but this is only the tip of the iceberg of solidarity work that might be done. Many people want their voices to be heard, and I think we need to use some of our privilege as internationals to get those voices heard directly in the US.” _

Please help us keep this dream alive. As the situation once again deteriorates in Gaza, we continue to stand by our commitment to the people in Rafah, helping to get their voices and their stories heard in the United States, where so much foreign policy that will directly effect their lives gets crafted.

In March of 2007 I plan to return to the occupied Palestinian territories to work with our partners in Rafah on projects currently under way and to launch some new ones, many of these diving under the aforementioned “tip of the iceberg.” I’m seeking your support in our continuing work to bring some sense of peace and normality to the lives of people in Rafah through our work there.

Pen-Pal Connections — We continue to find more people in Rafah wanting to communicate with people in Olympia. As a delegate from Olympia in Rafah, I’ll help facilitate those connections between our two communities. Peer-to-peer emails go beyond matching school children. We also seek to connect people with similar hobbies and professions.

Fair-Trade Program — It’s difficult to describe the feeling of standing in line at an Olympia shop or attending a concert or just walking down the street and seeing someone wearing a scarf or bracelet or carrying a bag displaying the distinctive needlepoint designs from Rafah. We work hard to get these unique works of art to Olympia. There is no official exportation of crafts from Rafah. ORSCP continues to seek out and utilize multiple avenues to bring vital income to the craftworkers there, most of them women who use this income to support their famlies. Art and crafts from Rafah have been adorning the shelves of shops such as Traditions Fair Trade in Olympia for the last two and a half years. I’ll be looking for more ways to get Palestinian goods to Olympia.

Education & Outreach — I’m hoping to increase the public’s knowledge about the occupation by focusing on the situation in Rafah, a densely populated community of refugees. As a former media coordinator for human rights groups in the West Bank, I plan to use my connections to get media outlets to focus on the disastrous results that isolation and economic starvation have wrought in Gaza.

I will be sending out regular dispatches from Rafah to be published on our website (orscp.org) and in various other formats in Olympia and elsewhere. But that’s not enough. People’s minds change when they hear from Palestinians themselves. I’ll also be working with people in Rafah to get their own writing translated and disseminated more widely, and to get Palestinian art and photography seen by more people.

The Popular Education Project — People in Rafah have expressed interest in developing a language education program through ORSCP, connecting teachers in Rafah with those in Olympia. I intend to use my experience as a certified ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher to help develop this program while in Rafah, through the Rachel Corrie Center and by working with other organizations and educators in both our communities.

Official Sister City Status — Our group in Olympia is working with the City of Olympia to create an official sister city relationship with Rafah, the first with a city in Gaza to be established. I plan to act as a liaison in Rafah while this takes place, talking with individuals in the community about what official sister city status entails. Whether or not actual officialdom is bestowed on our project, our dedication remains firm to continuing our relationship with people in Rafah at a collaborative, grassroots level.

Travel in the Middle East can be quite expensive and living and working on projects in Gaza present their own unique obstacles. I plan to stay and work on sister city projects for at least six months, as Olympia’s delegate in Rafah. During that time, I’ll be working to raise funds and assistance for the projects listed in this post and continue to work with and on behalf of people in Rafah.

I’m hoping you’ll find this work worth maintaining. Our goals are direct, tangible, and you’ll get and updates about the results. You can participate in my delegation to Rafah with a tax-deductible donation. Make your check out to The Olympia-Rafah Sister City Project and make sure to designate it for “Andrew’s delegation to Rafah.” You can mail it to P.O. Box 6275, Olympia, WA 98507.

Be sure to attach a note with your donation that includes your email address so I can add you to a list of individuals who will receive updates during my time getting to and staying in Rafah.

Thanks for your support!

Sincerely,

Andrew Ford Lyons
Olympia-Rafah Sister City Project
Board of directors vice president
andy@orscp.org

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