Support the Cause. Spread the Stoke
13:53 PM 7 Elul 5767, August 21, '07
Israeli Companies Donate Surfboards to Gaza
(IsraelNN.com) Water-sport companies in Israel got together this week and donated 10 surfboards, each worth around $450, to children in the Gaza Strip, at the behest of a California surfer - Seweryn Sztalkoper. He took the action after being captivated by an LA Times’ article entitled "Gaza Surfers Find Freedom in the Sea”. Sztalkoper hopes to collect 25-30 surfboards in all and distribute them in Gaza.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/131991
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Local California Surfer Starts First-Ever Surfboard Relief Drive for Gaza Surfers
By Rima Abdelkader
NEW YORK, 10 August 2007, ( Arabisto.com):
Local Californian, Seweryn Sztalkoper, after being captivated by an LA Times article entitled "Gaza Surfers Find Freedom in the Sea," has initiated a non-partisan relief drive for donations of used/new surfboards and equipment to Gaza. Surf boards, he says, are in limited supply and are economically unfeasible for local Gazans. In an exclusive interview, he tells me what propelled him to action in empowering local Gazans to surf the sea with ease.
Sztalkoper, a 23-year old, originally from Brwinow, Poland, escaped communism with his family in 1985, and later moved to Cleveland, Ohio until the age of 18. He soon after moved to Los Angeles on his own to attend Pepperdine University, receiving his bachelor's degree in 2005 in International Business and Finance. He then spent that summer in 2005 traveling to Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, and Turkey.
Sztalkoper says, ""I began surfing in 2005 and fell in love with it ever since. It's nice to break the surfer stereotype of us having "too much saltwater in our heads" and not knowing anything about the world." He works as a trading associate for a hedge fund company in Santa Monica and volunteers his time as project manager for the Levantine Cultural Center also based in California.
The purpose of this relief drive, Sztalkoper explains, is "to provide Palestinian youth with the feeling of joy and bliss achieved through surfing, and to provide an alternative way to escape life's daily hardships."
A self-proclaimed avid LATimes.com reader, as he surfed through the web articles, he told me he noticed a small title with the words " Gaza" and "Surfers". "I was interested," he said, "so I clicked to read and was blown away." He continued, "I knew there was surfing in Israel , but also in Gaza? So, it was after reading how they just want to surf and they actually pay to rent boards that I thought, we need to spread that surfing stoke (the feeling you get when you ride a wave) and send some boards over there, because I know for a fact that people have tons of boards that they can part with especially for a cause like this."
Sztalkoper then contacted author Louise Roug of the LA Times piece who put him in touch with BBC Gaza correspondent Hamada Qammar who is currently assisting the committee with the distribution of the surf boards from Jerusalem to Gaza.
After posting a discussion thread on a forum at A Small World ( www.asmallworld.net ), Sztalkoper came across a message from reader Haithem El-Zabri offering his support and help. He quickly learned it was "a small world" indeed. El-Zabri used to live in Los Angeles and worked with the same organization Sztalkoper currently volunteers, the Levantine Cultural Center. El-Zabri is now a part of this project and is currently searching for an organization in Gaza to collect these surf boards.
"I think it's important to implement this because not only does it spread an amazing feeling, but it can get youth surfing rather than being a possible victim elsewhere," Sztalkoper further added.
His website, www.gazasurfrelief.com , launches today. His goal is to collect at least 25 surf boards, leashes, replacement fins, duct tape (for repairs), warm water wax, and rash guards. Donations for bubble wrap are also being accepted. Monetary donations, he says, can be sent to the Levantine Cultural Center where all contributions are tax-deductible.
The Gaza Surf Relief Action Committee is comprised of Seweryn "Sev" Sztalkoper, the Gaza Surf Relief Project Manager; Jordan Elgrably, the Levantine Cultural Center Artistic Director; Erik Andersen, Webmaster – www.gazasurfrelief.com; and Dave Marshall, the Executive Committee Member and Africa Surf Project Coordinator – The Surfrider Foundation, Malibu Chapter.
The committee, Sztalkoper says, has already received 3 surf boards, with 10 pledged from the Los Angeles Area, 10 from Hawaii, 4 from Costa Rica, and some from Australia and Portugal.
They hope to collect 25-30 surfboards and equipment over to Jerusalem, have an NGO take on the shipment, transport it to Gaza, and distribute it.
To learn more, visit www.gazasurfrelief.com.
Rima Abdelkader is a NY-based journalist and a graduate of Pace University in NY.
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From the Los Angeles Times
Gaza surfers find freedom in the sea
In the isolated, battle-scarred strip, waves provide an escape.
By Louise Roug
Times Staff Writer
July 29, 2007
GAZA CITY —The surfer paddled out from the shore.
Lying on his battered board, he scanned the horizon. The turquoise water glittered in the midday sun.
Moments later, he caught a wave, effortlessly.
Back at the shore, Ahmed Abu Hassan, a 28-year-old Palestinian, pulled his board from the water and walked along the Gaza beach where green Hamas flags competed for space with red and yellow umbrellas. It looked as though Islamic militants and ice cream vendors had engaged in a turf war over the golden sand.
"It's a joy," said Hassan, a taciturn and graceful surfer.
If surfing is a quest for freedom, nowhere is such a pursuit more relevant than in Gaza, an overcrowded, poverty-stricken strip of land on the Mediterranean controlled by Hamas and cut off from the rest of the world by Israel.
"Gaza is like a prison," said Bashire Watfa, owner of Al Shira (The Sail) beach cafe. "There's nowhere to breathe except the beach."
Rival Palestinian factions recently fought running battles in the scarred apartment blocks that tower over downtown Gaza City. After four days of bloodletting, Hamas prevailed over the more secular Fatah forces. In response, Israel quickly shut down its border crossings with Gaza, allowing only limited international aid to pass into the territory.
For the surfers of the Gaza Strip, the popular Al Deira beach is a refuge where catching the perfect wave trumps politics.
"We go to the beach to forget about the suffering," said Mohammed Juda, 20, who surfs with his 15-year-old brother, Wadia. The Juda brothers, who paddle out into the surf every morning at 6, wore identical blue T-shirts and black swim trunks.
What the Palestinians euphemistically refer to as "the situation"—a dark and intractable reality of violence and poverty—dissolves in the big blue. You can't ride the waves and worry about factional violence at the same time.
"When we surf, we think about surfing," said Islam Assar, 17, sounding as Zen as his California brethren. "We don't think about the situation."
Assar had been polishing his technique for hours. But the sun was unforgiving, and his clique of surfers had dragged their boards onto the sand for a break.
"When I'm surfing, I feel like I'm flying," said Mohammed Jayab, 34, a surfer who is legendary in Gaza. Lean, tan and wearing a drenched but trendy Italian soccer shirt, Jayab looked like he had just walked off Huntington Beach, except—perhaps—for the Palestinian flag embroidered on his cap.
Recently, Jayab and his friend Hassan had volunteered as lifeguards after the six regular guards walked off the job. With little money in the government coffers, they had not been paid for several months.
The two surfers seemed to enjoy their new responsibilities and eagerly made use of their whistles as they patrolled the edge of the water.
Hassan, who wore a T-shirt from a Santa Cruz surfing company, sized up the other beachgoers.
There was a lot to keep an eye on.
In one corner of the beach, a couple of harried kindergarten teachers sought to contain the havoc created by a gaggle of children whose periwinkle uniforms were sticky with water and sand.
Elsewhere, older men smoked narghile water pipes and good-naturedly discussed politics under palm tree parasols.
Mothers, meanwhile, played with their children or swam in the shallow surf. The women wore traditional full-length abaya dresses and head scarves that appeared to be weighing them down in the water.
In the aftermath of the factional fighting, Islamic militant groups have mostly stayed away from the beach. But the armed wing of Hamas, the Executive Force, which is now Gaza's de facto police squad, came to Al Deira once. They cracked down on a couple of guys who were "chasing women" and generally misbehaving, Jayab said.
"Now all those things are gone," he said, with approval.
Cafe owner Watfa, a Fatah supporter, was less sanguine about the recent changes. He had fought against Israel, and his tan torso bore bullet scars. But now Watfa wants peace and prosperity. The Hamas takeover was bad for business, he said, then yelled at children who were burying a cafe chair in the sand.
"There are a lot of people on the beach, but most don't have any money so they keep to the public places," he said.
Jayab, who described himself as sympathetic to Hamas, is the top dog on the beach—admired by many of the youths for his flawless style. He developed his tricks and technique by imitating surfers on TV, he said.
Like the other Gaza surfers, he watches reruns of "Baywatch" episodes. But he doesn't ogle the bikini-clad lifeguards on the show, he said.
"I close my eyes and watch through my fingers," Jayab said, laughing as he held his hands in front of his eyes to illustrate. "We think of the joy of surfing, and how to develop our style."
Unlike their California counterparts, the surfers of Gaza don't have access to high-end gear or glossy magazines. There are no surf shops, schools or competitions. Beach Boys songs are never played on the radio. And there's no Arabic equivalent of "dude."
Because surfboards are difficult to come by and most of the surfers can't afford them anyway, they rent decrepit, heavy boards for about a dollar an hour. Jayab bought his beat-up board for about $70 from a Palestinian who had brought it from Israel. Hassan, who dreams of riding waves in Australia one day, is a collector and has somehow amassed four boards.
Although the strip's 25-mile coastline offers some of the best beaches in the region, with broad swaths of fine sand dotted with palm trees, Gaza's reputation as a hub of killings, kidnappings and urban warfare keeps most tourists away.
Still, there is enough business for at least one boutique hotel, designed to resemble a Moroccan villa. The Al Deira hotel offers spectacular sunset views and wireless Internet service on the grand terrace, but no meaningful mini-bar in the rooms, because alcohol is banned.
A "Surf Atlas" on the website http://www.wannasurf.com lists the Al Deira beach, but locates it, erroneously, in Israel. The site also warns that travel to the beach is "difficult, as you must drive into Gaza City [and] cross Erez checkpoint (a long and tiring process.)"
Although Israel formally ended military rule of the Gaza Strip in 2005, it still controls access to the coastal enclave, and since the Hamas takeover, the Israeli military keeps an especially close watch.
On some days, the Israeli navy fires warning shots toward the beach, cautioning fishermen and swimmers not to venture too far from the shore.
But the patrols can't contain the surfers.
They may be trapped in Gaza, but riding the waves seems like the great escape.
"I feel free," Hassan said.
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Special correspondent Hamada Abu Qamar contributed to this report.
If you want other stories on this topic, search the Archives at latimes.com/archives.
Copyright 2007 Los Angeles Times
Ahmed Abu Hassan, 28, and Mohammed Jayab, 34, surfers who hang out at the Al Deira beach in Gaza. Photo © Wissam Nassar / For The Times