Indefatigable vloger , Wizard Bisan, has told her story with dignity and courage and pride over the past 16 months. We have seen her laugh, mourn , cry and take joy too from Palestinian resilience.
Recently she has told us about the foraging she remembers her grandmother doing and, as she has been able to roam a bit more, she has shown us the destruction of schools where she grew up.
In 2007 one of the small park BIG RUN organisers went to the West Bank. Through the lens of the devastation of Gaza today and the increasingly oppressive occupation in the West Bank, Kath looks back at her travels in the context of the genocide in Gaza that has been going on since October 2023.
You can download her reflections here . Please donate to Sheffield Palestine Cultural Exchange when you do. There are three ways to donate. We suggest £10.
By BACS: transfer funds to the Sheffield Palestine Cultural Exchange bank account using the reference ‘WBT2007’: Sort code: 05-08-18 Account number: 33129312.
Direct debit or credit card payment here (change the amount if you want to give less or more than £10)
We have been amazed at the work people in Gaza have undertaken in spite of the genocide. Whether this has been building tented schools, making films or offering trauma-easing structured play, our friends in Gaza have been heroes. You can read more in our Xmas 24 and Winter 25 newsletters
So we are pleased to ask you to save this date and help us make spbr25 the best ever.
The 15 months of bombardment and destruction has seen deliberate targeting of schools and universities. All six Universities that were in Gaza are now destroyed. Students have to go to extraordinary lengths to continue their education. Like Malak, a student supported by the Sheffield Palestine Womens Scholarship Fund.
Similarly we have seen the destruction of play facilities, amongst these the Qais Play and Therapy Centre for traumatised children – which tragically is now most children in Gaza.
So for this reason our theme this year is Play and Education. We are busy making plans to ensure we all have a fantastic day and celebrate Palestinians and their tremendous spirit. One big effort is to raise funds for the BIG SING, our seven-choir backed sing across to Gaza. Please help us if you can.
Blessed by sunshine that seemed it would never arrive, spBR 2024 was a glorious 24 hours of community solidarity.
Our theme this year has been Land and Food. And this was the inspiration for the solidarity supper but also, amongst the information boards dotted around the course, were four fabulous information pieces on food in Palestine. Designed and written by co-organiser Cath Ager, (apart from the one taken from Visualizing Palestine!) – they deserve a special mention. Please have a read if you did not catch them on the day
“It is important to enjoy life” says Adhm Alshani “in spite of the terrible genocide. Ensuring we can celebrate is resistance.” This is certainly the message we received from the pictures sent from Gaza the previous week, of the children running through the ruins of their city: these pictures were displayed on the outside of the Palestine Voices Tent.
And this is what we saw all weekend: an inspiring mix of celebration and anger; joy and sadness.
Sahar cuts the ribbon and spBR 2024 is setting off!
Runner number 500!!
Massage tent
Back of the Palestine Voices Tent
Morgan gives us the relaity of daily life
Mushier and Sahar on current situation in Gaza
Birds of Gaza
Henna fun
Serving ourt the solidarity supper
Happy eaters
Looking down past the crafts tents
Lantern procession gets ready
The owl lantern sprinkles some after dark joy
A silent, slow and solemn torch of rememberance march accompanied by a simple drum beat, marching up the hill
Torch of rememberance march through the woods
Ahmed Adnn at sunset on the Saturday night
Busker's Hour fun
Well dressed band at Buskers' Hour
BIG SING throuhg the band tent
BIG SING magic
Camp memorial to children who have been murdered in the genocide
We desperately wanted to have more of a festival feel and with the help of the za’atar grinders in the poetry tent, the the lantern making crew and Families 4 Gaza, and the programmme in the Palestine Voices Tent we managed to do that, with the hill in front of the Hall being crowded for much of the afternoon and into the evening. You can see lots of photos of the whole day on facebook
At the start of the evening we served 152 meals at the solidarity supper, herded kittens as the lantern procession weaved its way round the course and finally the procession accompanying the torch of remembrance was moving and unifying. As we all lay our candles by the solidarity tree planted by Mahmoud last year, our collective sadness moved on to a mood of defiance as we enjoyed Admed Adnan’s guitar and Oud as the sun was setting.
And on Sunday, with a Palestinian breakfast closing the Palestine Voices Tent, the festival moved on to Buskers Hour: 12 musicians /bands playing arund the park filling the air with music and laughter. And then the closing ceremony – we were really pleased to have the Deputy Lord Mayor with us – and then BIG SING.
The connection with Ramallah and the absence of a connection with Gaza was a reminder of how fragile the lives of all Palestinians are at the minute. In the West Bank, Mahmoud – who planted the solidarity tree last year – was supposed to attend but his village was raided the day before and he could not travel to Ramallah. We have been told he has not been arrested. And in Gaza, there simply was no connectivity possible. But we sang loud and clear and strong and pending a video cut in the Autumn you can see the full closing ceremony on YouTube: https://youtube.com/live/66OkKEMYdQk?feature=share
AND let’s not forget the run. The wonderful 24 hour runners, the football team who ran for 24 hours between them and the 551 registered who made this the most successful small park BIG RUN so far. Thank you!!
On the right is Nick Booker, who ran for the whole 24 hours, looking strong in the early morning. We are immensely grateful to him and other ultra runners
Our event is always an occasion of celebration and joy. This year with the background of current events and the awful trauma and sadness, it feels difficult. But, we discovered, living with contrasts of joy and sadness, or life and death, are the standard experiences for Palestinians. They have no choice. And so it will will have to be similarly for us.
Read on to discover what we are doing to mark and mourn the terrible events in Palestine.
Tent camp You will find near the start/ finish line a replica tent camp which will be inhabited by Palestinians over the whole 24 hours. Intended to reproduce symbolically the conditions Palestinians are experiencing in Gaza today. They will share their stories, experiences and news from home with visitors. Next to the camp will be a tent with a photographic exhibition depicting the 1948 Nakba – horrible echoes of which have reverberated brutally into our present.
Torch of remembrance At 8.15 pm on Saturday 22 June we will hold a solemn procession taking a torch around the park course in remembrance of all those killed during the genocide. We will hand out LED candles to light your way, symbolising lost souls and to be placed at the solidarity tree after. The torch will burn all night.
One minutes’ silence During the closing ceremony we will hold a minutes’ silence to remember all those who have been killed in the events of the last eight months. This will follow a hopeful link up with our partner project Never Stop Dreaming in Khan Younis, Gaza, and other project friends in Ramallah, West Bank.
We hope you will join us in these sombre events if you can. And we hope you will come and enjoy the whole event as well. Smiling, more than crying. Palestinians live a rollercoaster life where joy and tragedy sit uncomfortably and unavoidably side by side. For this weekend we will stand in solidarity and experience the same.
You can sign up to take part at anytime over the weekend here
If you would like to help marshal the run and steward some of the other activities please sign up here
If you cannot be with us on the weekend but would like to do something, you can enter our DIY event
In the past , the children from Never Stop Dreaming in Khan Yunis, Gaza, have done a run to coincide with the run we do in Meersbrook Park. We never expected they could do something this year. The centre is destroyed and families are displaced.
And then we got these pictures. Amazing that in the midst of all what they have to go through they can organise a solidarity run. It is so uplifting to see this continued resistance.
Please come along this weekend. You can sign up online until Thursday midnight: https://www.sientries.co.uk/event.php?event_id=12867
One of the small park BIG RUN organisers ran in a fabulous fell race on Tuesday evening. It was exceptionally well organised, technical, friendly and fast! What struck him, once he got his breath back, was that as well as some notable similarities to our own event there were some very marked differences, well worth a little muse on. Read on to discover some of those musings.
The Burbage Skyline fell race is ten rugged kms in a figure of eight of rough tracks, paths, rocks, bogs, hills and even a couple of small river crossings around the top of the hills ringing the beautiful Burbage Valley. The pace is fast and even if it wasn’t in the plan, this runner couldn’t help but try to keep up with the others!
Despite turning myself inside out with effort I didn’t feature in the top half of the results! No shame there, there are some seriously impressive runners and the winning time would have been very impressive had it been around a flat track.
But it was illuminating that the way I measured my success was against others; every time I overtook someone, there was a small twinge of satisfaction and likewise when I was overtaken, something I had to get quite used to on the first hill, I was a tiny bit peed off!
Now, everyone who ran the race will have different motivations and targets – and no criticism is intended when I say that in the main I felt this was a very competitive race. It felt notably different to our own run/walk/hop/skip and juggle of an event!
In contrast to being a race, I think the small park BIG RUN is better viewed as a challenge. And though you can measure yourself and your effort – it is more with yourself and not against others that you take that measurement. The targets are personal. For some one lap is the goal and the achievement is high. In 2022 my dearly departed Dad, contending with dementia managed a lap, only months before he passed away.
The race’s great and much missed friend Graham Birkin (pictured here) did his lap in very poor health but walking with the loving aid of friends and family – no small achievement.
Others like Nick, Maggie, Davor, Cécile and others have done gargantuan efforts of up to 24 hours. One runner completed 155 laps but was still slightly regretful they hadn’t made it to the magic 100 miles!!! And to this end, they are coming back this year to try again.
Some set themselves a marathon, half marathon or laps target. Others challenge themselves not with numerical targets but with group plans like teams of runners filling hourly slots to fill up the whole day, or individuals doing one lap every hour for 24 hours, others just running the hours of darkness. Some arrive at 4am to greet the sun and some to reclaim their park. Some have hidden challenges that make it difficult to even make it to the park. For a refugee the bus fare could be the challenge. And others do it to raise money for the charities we support.
Many simply walk around the circuit with their friends and family, satisfied in the knowledge they are celebrating freedom of movement, waving flags and showing friendship and solidarity with Palestinians.
And some simply eat cake and drink tea – which is in its own right a wonderful thing to do!
All challenges, all different, all personal but all on the same course with lots of different people in a spirit of friendship.
What everyone has in common is that they are there – in the park, in the same place. A joint and joyous effort that affirms community spirit, friendliness, companionship and solidarity. All power to you!
small park BIG RUN is – in case you haven’t heard – on the weekend of 22/23 June.
You can sign up here. https://www.sientries.co.uk/event.php?event_id=12867
Sahar cuts the ribbon and spBR 2024 is setting off!
