While the Gift of the Givers Foundation trucks are still stranded at the Gaza border, the foundation collaborated with members of Gqeberha-based Health Care Workers for Palestine on Saturday for a vigil attended by more than 300 people.
In a tribute to the children of Palestine, 10,000 pairs of school shoes were collected for underprivileged children in SA.
Nelson Mandela Bay deputy mayor Babalwa Lobishe and a crowd of more than 300 marched from Kings Beach to Shark Rock Pier.
They carried posters, Palestinian flags, and chanted “Free Free Palestine”.
Mashra Gani, chair of the Gqeberha Islamic Medical Association and a member of the Health Care Workers for Palestine, organised the vigil as part of a global initiative.
“There were vigils in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban.
“The purpose of this vigil was to tell everybody what we want for the children of Palestine and what we want for the children of SA.
“We would love for the children of SA to be fully free; we know a lot of kids are hungry, barefoot and needy.
“We know a lot of children have been massacred so we wanted to put the two together symbolically and that is what the shoes meant,” Gani said.
She said Gift of the Givers gave them 600 pairs of shoes on Friday and provided schools with water.
Eastern Cape Gift of the Givers co-ordinator Corene Conradie said their “Soles of our Souls” initiative came about after they saw how SA's poor, rural areas pledged their support for Palestinians.
They also used the opportunity to honour the 11,000 children killed in Gaza, by giving school shoes to the needy.
“We have now collected 10,000 school shoes. They will be delivered to poor children in SA.
“This is an initiative that has been going on for some time.”
HeraldLIVE
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