Amal is dedicated to reviving hope and empowering the displaced communities, with a primary focus on Palestinians, by providing personalized support pathways that empower, upskill, and connect you to meaningful solutions. Primarily, Amal Initiative is trying to stabilize the displaced communities by providing a support mechanism that enables them to settle both in physical and mental space in a sustained way. To revive hope, we focus on nurturing a positive mindset, and for that, having a safe and supportive environment is essential.

AGV is a grassroots initiative aimed at supporting local NGOs in crisis affected areas. AGV is currently in it’s start up phase and is supporting one Local NGO in Gaza. Even though we are just 2 or 3 volunteers, we have managed to raise over $250k USD for a local NGO from funding that would normally have gone to an INGO who would have taken a portion of the costs before the money even reached Gaza. When a crisis hits, International NGOs are often the first people to respond, they bring funding from various governments around the world, expertise, and supplies. But the flip side of this is that local NGOs already based in crisis hit areas get pushed out. Even though they are in the best position to respond to an emergency/crisis, they are often seen as an afterthought. Most do not have the resources or staff levels to compete for funding like INGOs. The short-term impact sees funding that was meant for crisis affected people often stays in the global north, local NGOs see a ‘brain drain’ as their staff leave for well-funded and better paying INGOs, and local communities, those who are meant to be being helped, do not get as much support as they are due. The long-term impact of this is that crisis-affected areas lose a substantial part of their civil society as many are forced to close or massively reduce their work and staff numbers. AGV currently supports the Youth Vision Society, a small local NGO based in Gaza City. YVS has often relied on short-term staff and volunteers, even when there wasn’t an acute crisis. This has meant their ability to source funding for work has become extremely limited, even though they provide first-line support to the people around them. They have been feeding people, providing wells and water, providing mental health support, and even providing education classes to primary school-aged children, all on a shoestring budget.

Echoes of Palestine is the story that a passionate 21-year-old student decided to write. Seeing tragic videos on social media and feeling powerless when faced with questions like “How can we support them?” and “How can we raise awareness?” made me want to take action. I wanted to create something meaningful to help the Palestinian people in my own way, and to preserve the beautiful and precious Palestinian culture. My goal is also to help others support Palestine in their own way, by proudly wearing beautiful pins, stickers, or other items that showcase the beauty of Palestinian heritage.

I am a community organizer trying to provide a space that amplifies the voices of Palestinians and their allies outside of the algorithms of Meta and Twitter. I have started a Mastodon server at freefree.ps and I will need help if it manages to grow. I want freefree.ps to be governed by the community it serves and need help forming an organization that can administer the site. I would rather share and distribute authority over the server sooner than later. We also need moderators. I speak English and read French but I am still learning the Arabic alphabet. My experience includes co-founding an emergency shelter for the unhoused via a tent city direct action in 2001, lots of GNU/Linux web and mail administration and volunteering including FNB, Debian IRC tech support, co-managing a community gallery and venue and more. I am also the chairperson for the Unifor bargaining unit at my workplace, which I organized, negotiated for and ratified our first collective bargaining agreement. I have not created freefree.ps on a whim, I am committed to its success.