gaza locals
Gaza is a territory made up of small villages where the cramped, run-down houses are strangers to paint. There are also farmers who work their olive and orange groves as well as shepherds who care for their herds of goats and sheep under the watchful eye of Israeli army rifles. That’s the Gaza we see in the media. However, Gaza is a territory that looks out over the sea. Every day, Gaza fishermen take to their boats and fish in the meagre fishing grounds they are let work in. The sea and the beaches provide the local population with one of their only leisure time spaces, and in the last few years, more than one local has discovered the sport of surfing.
A couple of NGOs brought along some surfboards and beach lifeguards and young boys and girls have been introduced to surfing. For the moment at least, Gaza surfers have not been contaminated in the way we have been. They don’t know anything about brands, surf magazines or surf stars (with the exception of Mahmoud Moodi, Gaza’s answer to Mitch Buchannan, and local surf champion). They haven’t heard of Hawaiian or Californian waves (more than likely they don’t really care where Hawaii or California is), and the concept of “surfari” is utopia for a person who is forcibly forbidden from leaving Gaza.
And yet they are really lucky. Don’t misunderstand what we are saying here. We are only referring to surfing. They are lucky because they have the chance to experience surfing in its more stripped down and authentic state. They haven’t got the cleanest or most beautiful beaches in the world, their waves (when they have them) are certainly not the kind to attract surfers from other parts of the globe to come calling, their boards are yellowed by the sun and patched together rather haphazardly and they have no sponsored championships but as an experience, enjoyment, attitude and manner of living, we would venture to say that there is nothing like being a local Gaza surfer anywhere else in the world. There is simply nothing like it. Nothing like the sensation of getting to know a new world around you without the overcrowding and overcommercialisation we have here.
A couple of NGOs brought along some surfboards and beach lifeguards and young boys and girls have been introduced to surfing. For the moment at least, Gaza surfers have not been contaminated in the way we have been. They don’t know anything about brands, surf magazines or surf stars (with the exception of Mahmoud Moodi, Gaza’s answer to Mitch Buchannan, and local surf champion). They haven’t heard of Hawaiian or Californian waves (more than likely they don’t really care where Hawaii or California is), and the concept of “surfari” is utopia for a person who is forcibly forbidden from leaving Gaza.
And yet they are really lucky. Don’t misunderstand what we are saying here. We are only referring to surfing. They are lucky because they have the chance to experience surfing in its more stripped down and authentic state. They haven’t got the cleanest or most beautiful beaches in the world, their waves (when they have them) are certainly not the kind to attract surfers from other parts of the globe to come calling, their boards are yellowed by the sun and patched together rather haphazardly and they have no sponsored championships but as an experience, enjoyment, attitude and manner of living, we would venture to say that there is nothing like being a local Gaza surfer anywhere else in the world. There is simply nothing like it. Nothing like the sensation of getting to know a new world around you without the overcrowding and overcommercialisation we have here.
