Saturday, March 13, 2010, 12.42 PM
2010/01/15
Juana Jaafar and Ram Karthigasu drove an ambulance to Gaza as part of the Viva Palestina International Humanitarian Aid Convoy. The experience has changed their outlook on life, report SUZIEANA UDA NAGU and NURJEHAN MOHAMED
| Ram Karthigasu (left) and Juana Jaafar feel accountable to the Palestinians for delivering the ambulance in the best possible condition. |
The mood all around was somber that night in Latakia, recalls Juana, 28, from Shah Alam.
“Some were homesick or just wanted to be in Gaza to deliver the supplies to needy civilians,” says the PGPO exco member and assistant secretary in a text message home.
That morale was low among convoy members at the time was understandable.
The convoy had planned to enter Gaza on Dec 27 to mark the first anniversary of the tightening of the blockade of the territory last year.
However, it was stranded in Aqabah town as Egypt had refused to grant permission for the convoy to cross the border.
This was the biggest setback for the group, which had otherwise proceeded with minor glitches.
As planned, it had moved through Europe, crossing the Adriatic sea by ferry to Greece before making its way through Turkey, Syria and Jordan.
All 250 vehicles involved in the convoy were ready to cross the Rafah border as soon as its members received the green light from Egypt.
The Egyptian government's lack of cooperation did not surprise many of the volunteers.
Two previous convoys faced similar problems entering the territory.
The Egyptian government was said to be not only uncooperative but had also needlessly stalled the mission by placing “one onerous condition after another”, among which was not allowing 43 of the vehicles in the convoy into Gaza.
| Ram Karthigasu’s parents Vanaja Ramachandran and S. Karthigasu motivated him to push on when the going got tough. |
“Whatever we knew of the situation before embarking on the journey didn’t adequately prepare us for what we actually encountered there. Every day brought new surprises,” says Ram, who holds a Master’s degree in International Relations from the University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK in which the Palestinian conflict was one of the main subjects.
“Despite reading about Egypt allying itself with Israel, I didn’t realise it was directly involved in closing the border. (This debunks) the belief among Malaysians that the Muslim world is united in the Palestinian crisis,” says Juana, who studied religion at University of Georgia, the United States.
Despite the obstacles, Ram and Juana — who both contributed to New Straits Times’ YouthQuake in their teens — kept their spirits up by focusing on the mission.
“We were accountable to the Palestinians and those who donated to the cause. We had to make sure that we deliver the ambulance in the best possible condition,” says Juana.
PGPO donated the ambulance, three vans and aid worth more than RM300,000.
The duo was initially scheduled to join the convoy in Damascus, Syria, along with the rest of the Malaysian delegation which comprised PGPO group leader Matthias Chang and member Shamsul Akmar Musa Kamal; Bernama TV crew assistant producer and news presenter Azmawati Azmi, journalist Kuzaimah Idris, news presenter Masrenny Masri and cameraman Mohd Shafie Abdullah; and Yayasan Al-Bukhari representative Colonel Abdul Rafee Abdul Khatah.
The PGPO decided to send the two to London at the last minute to make sure that the second-hand ambulance it bought via Viva Palestina was in good condition.
The last-minute changes gave Juana and Ram less than 48 hours to pack for the trip and say goodbye to their loved ones.
Although they knew the risks involved in the mission, joining an international convoy to show solidarity with the Palestinians was a chance they just could not miss.
The decision to go on the mission “was not difficult to make”.
“I’ve been following the Palestinian issue since my student days. I’m honoured to travel with the convoy,” says Juana.
Being new to the Viva Palestina convoy, the Malaysians knew little of what to expect from the journey.
“All we were told was to pack warm clothes and sleeping bags because we may not always get to stay in motels,” says Juana.
What transpired in the following four weeks was something that they could only describe as one of the most memorable experiences of their lives.
Juana and Ram made lots of friends, among them American volunteer Faith Attaguile, 63, who hitched a ride in their ambulance.
Like many other individuals in the convoy, Attaguile raised her own funds to get supplies into Gaza.
The hardship they faced during the journey paid off when they finally set foot on Palestinian soil on Jan 6.
The convoy was charmed by the beauty of Gaza and the fighting spirit of its people.
“Gaza has character and the Gazans carry themselves with dignity.
“They are survivors and highly admirable considering that they have been occupied and attacked for many years,” says Juana.
The Gazans are also extremely proud of their homeland.
“You would half expect the streets to be covered in blood and buildings reduced to rubble but Gaza is clean.
“They have apparently learned to clean up after each attack — to wash traces of blood and remove rubbles out of the way,” she adds.
While there is rubble all over the place, adds Ram, there was more rebuilding taking place on the tiny strip of land.
“If you were to fly directly into the city centre for a few days and don't see the badly affected northern and southern parts, you would have no idea that the city is under attack every day,” he says.
During the group's 30-hour stay in the territory, Israeli F-16 planes dropped a number of bombs in the area, killing several civilians, which was not reported.
“The waiter serving us at the coffee house of the hotel where we stayed told us coolly that was nothing — after we leave the Israelis would drop another 10 just for allowing us in,” says Ram.
Despite being under constant attack, the Gazans have learnt to rebuild as quickly as they can using limited resources.
At Islamic University of Gaza, where a building housing the institution's medical labs was destroyed, the classes started again after eight days — and evidence of the destruction now is on display in an exhibition in another building.
“It's like them telling the rest of the world that though they may not be able to get out of their land and that things are blocked from coming in, they will still live in dignity.”
The dramatic struggle to get aid into Gaza had been an eye-opener.
Juana was humbled by the generosity of the volunteers whose ages ranged from 23 to 76 years.
“It was heartening to see the diversity of people who joined the convoy — such as the circus performer who stood outside Tesco in the UK to raise funds for the cause; the Irish Catholics and Jews who condemned what is happening in Palestine.
“These are the types of people you would not expect (to help out with the cause),” she says.
“This demonstrates that the plight of the Palestinians has touched people of all backgrounds — not just Muslims and the typical ‘social activists’.”
Ram adds that the crisis in Gaza tends to be “hijacked” as a Muslim brotherhood issue but the Gazans do not see it that way.
“Although Hamas (the ruling political party) is an Islamic party, you do not see much of religion being used as a platform in Gaza.
“And the people who voted for them — Muslims, Christians and Jews alike — respect them for that,” he says.
BLESSINGS FROM THE FAMILY
NO one was more worried about the safety of Perdana Global Peace Organisation (PGPO) members Juana Jaafar and Ram Karthigasu — who were part of the third Viva Palestina International Humanitarian Aid Convoy to Gaza recently — than their parents.
PGPO exco member and assistant secretary Juana’s mother Azizah Dahlan knew that travelling across 14 countries into Gaza posed many risks to her youngest daughter.
Still, the mother of three did not intend to stop Juana from the mission.
“She broke the news (about her trip) on the way home from work one day. We discussed it when she got home and I gave her my blessing,” says Azizah.
While Juana was on the road, Azizah kept tabs on her daughter's location through Twitter, a social media she had never used before.
She also received phone calls and text messages from Juana.
Juana’s frequent tweets (@juanajaafar) kept Azizah calm. Naturally, Azizah became restless when there was a long pause between tweets.
“The family was concerned about Juana particularly because her left foot was swollen due to a fall she had shortly before she left for London,” says Azizah.
It was later found that her foot was fractured.
On top of that, the cold winter had made Juana’s cold and sore throat worse.
“She gradually got her voice back but we could hear that it became hoarse again when she called from Syria. That got me worried again. But deep down I knew she was fine and safe.”
Three days before coming home, Juana texted Azizah asking for her favourite food — daging goreng, petai, kicap and sambal belacan — to be prepared on the day she arrives.
“We made sure they were ready before we picked her up from the airport,” says Azizah.
While Juana shared everything about her mission with her mother from the start, PGPO manager Ram purposely avoided going into details about the humanitarian mission with his parents as he did not want to worry them.
As Ram frequently travels for work, his mother Vanaja Ramachandran thought nothing of his recent trip to London.
“From what I understood, he would be travelling by road through several countries before reaching his destination — it sounded more like a camping trip with a humanitarian goal,” says Vanaja, who runs a kindergarten in Rawang.
When Ram informed her that he had to bring his travel plans forward from Dec 15 to Dec 4, Vanaja's only concern was whether or not he would have enough time to pack.
It was only at the airport when she saw his colleague Juana getting a big send-off from her family that Vanaja began to be curious.
“Only then did Ram inform me that he was joining a convoy to deliver humanitarian aid to the besieged Palestinian territory of Gaza,” she says.
She grew more worried when news reports of the convoy’s progress started coming in. She began to question if it was the right decision to let him go.
“But I would not have stopped him in any case as he was doing it for a good cause,” says Vanaja.
Ram’s father S. Karthigasu felt relieved when he found out that the number of people and vehicles in the convoy was greatly boosted in Turkey “as that meant that there would be higher chances of them being allowed into Gaza”.
Ram kept in constant touch with the family either through phone calls or text messages.
When the convoy faced many obstacles towards the end of its mission, the family motivated Ram to push on.
The reality of the danger that their son had been in hit the couple after Ram returned home and related all that had happened — including being only some 10 kilometres from where Israeli F-16 planes had dropped bombs on Gaza.
“If Ram had to go on such a mission again, I would give my blessing,” says Vanaja, adding that when her son sets his mind on a goal, he goes all out to achieve it.
“I left my son's fate to God and I knew that He would send my son back safely to me.”
I WOULD LOVE TO GO AGAIN
QUESTION: What was your routine there?
Ram's answer: We would wake up at about 7 or 8 am, drive for about 10 to 12 hours then stop at a meeting place -- most of the time it was a car park or camping ground -- to rest for the night. And the next day, we did it all again.
Q: How did you spend your time while waiting for the convoy to proceed at various checkpoints?
A: A good thing about being in a 500-member convoy is that you would find people with all kinds of personalities to pass the time. Well, it was that and sleep.
Q: What was your first impression of Gaza?
A: Driving through Gaza was like driving through any of the old towns in Malaysia, only incredibly clean. If you didn't know that it was under siege, you might think it is a small, happy town with a nice Mediterranean beach.
Q: Would you do it all again?
A: Oh, yeah. I would love to go to Gaza again but if there's another convoy, I'd like it to take a different route, maybe via Northern Africa.
Q: If you did do it all again, what would you do differently?
A: I'd bring a radio because the one in our ambulance didn't work so we ended up travelling 6,400km without any music and had to talk to each other the whole way to keep our spirits up.
Q: What was your main diet?
A: The locals in the Middle Eastern countries were very kind to us and fed us a lot. It was basically bread, salads, hummus and lamb. I know my hummus now and can differentiate them by colour!
Q: What did you miss most from Malaysia?
A: The comforts of home and the fact that you are in control of your schedule for the day as opposed to being in a convoy where you're not. And when we were in Gaza, the freedom of movement that we take for granted.
Q: What would you most want to forget from the trip?
A: The politics -- a humanitarian convoy was subjected to so much of it. From the Egyptian authorities trying to hamper the mission to some people in the convoy; everybody had their own agenda in a way. I was approached by about 10 guys who couldn't fathom why I -- not being white or Muslim -- was in the convoy and who tried to convert me to Islam.
Q: What would you most want to remember from the trip?
A: The 30-odd hours we had in Gaza and the interaction with the people on the street who stood in the cold waiting for the convoy at 4am so that they could give us food.
Q: What was the first thing you did when you arrived home?
A: Had a nice shower and a good meal of ikan keli curry that my mum made specially for me.
Q: How has your experience changed your outlook on life?
A: I have travelled quite a bit even before I joined the convoy because of my work. I always tell my friends here that, after seeing the troubles elsewhere, sometimes you just have to live and let live.
And after Gaza, it affirms what I believe to be true. It's just a matter of how you make do with what you have.
RECONSIDER THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA
QUESTION: What was your routine there?
Juana's answer: I wake up in the morning and get cleaned up. Then we gather in our designated groups for the morning briefing on our next destination. We drive there until nightfall, rest and repeat the process the next day.
Q: How did you spend your time while waiting for the convoy to proceed at various checkpoints?
A: We get on the Internet to contact our families and blog or tweet to create pressure on the Egyptian government to allow us through the border.
Q: What was your first impression of Gaza?
A: We arrived at 2am so we couldn't see much of the city. But our hearts soared when we saw the Welcome to Palestine sign. It was proof to us that this disputed territory -- despite the Israeli government not recognising it -- exists.
We were blown away when we woke up the next morning at our hotel and saw the magnificent blue sea from the window.
Q: If you could do it all over again, what would you do differently?
A: My experience has made me reconsider the role of social media tools such as Twitter. I was surprised by the number of people -- friends and strangers --who followed my tweets.
It was a tool that helped my family and those of other convoy members to know our exact location. I would make better use of these tools to create awareness of the cause.
Q: What was your main diet?
A: It was mostly whatever that we could find at petrol stations -- such as sandwiches and pizza. In Turkey, we had good food and ate a lot because we never knew when or where our next meal was coming.
Q: What did you miss most from Malaysia?
A: My family.
Q: What would you most want to remember from the trip?
A: I want to remember everything because I learned so much from the being part of the convoy.
Q: What was the first thing you did when you arrived home?
A: I had a good laugh at my family's "cheesy" reception. They welcomed me home with balloons, specially printed T-shirts and banners which had colours from the Malaysian and Palestinian flags. When I got home, there were Malaysian and Palestinian flags at the gate!
Q: How has your experience changed your outlook on life?
A: It has reinforced my desire for Malaysians to look at the issue in Palestine as a violation of the rights of Palestinians -- Muslims and non-Muslims. Making it a Muslim issue may isolate others from taking action and we can't afford that.
Malaysians should also be able to differentiate between the Jews and Zionist Jews.
I shared a room with a Jewish woman on the boat to Greece. She took a huge risk in raising her own funds to join the convoy as Zionist Jews consider those who are pro-Palestine as self-hating and treacherous. I see her as a hero.
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| Juana Jaafar (left) shared everything about the mission with mum Azizah Dahlan. |
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