Susie Abulhawa Running for Palestinian Children

My friend Susan Abulhawa is running to raise funds for Playgrounds for Palestine, which she founded. I encourage people to support her. Her message follows.

Dear friends, family, and supporters of PfP - As many of you know, Ramzy Baroud and I are teaming up this year to run the Philadelphia Marathon in November to raise money and awareness of PfP. Toward that goal, on Sunday, 21 September, I (along with my wonderful neighbor, Nelson Dunham) ran the Philadelphia Half Marathon, mostly as a half way point in training, but also to put on the table for this email - to ask you to support us! You can see my (unimpressive) results by going to Searchable Results and typing in my name. Ramzy and I aren't setting any records. Each of us has been told previously by our doctors that we could never run again. Ramzy had a serious back injury that necessitated spinal surgery. Likewise, my herniated discs and a badly injured knee with multiple surgeries is no picnic. Running such distances is a grueling experience and the pain of inevitable inflammation in these injured joints is magnified by exhaustion and depletion. In some small way, to keep going is symbolic of what Palestinians do every day in Palestine. Their refusal to accept a fate dictated by outsiders and their steadfast postures that get them through the impossibilities of each day, is a thing of inspiration that Ramzy and I want to honor with this run. In doing so, we are affirming each child's right to be a child, no matter their circumstances. Honoring that magical ingredient of being young, trusting, full of life and play, curiosity and hope is what we do at Playgrounds for Palestine. Please help us to bring color and play to children living with the deprivations of a military occupation. Ramzy wrote a very eloquent essay describing what it means to be a child living under occupation and how important it is to have play, no matter the circumstances. To read it, click here. Our goal is not only to finish and raise money. We want support of Palestinian causes at such events to become common. We'd like to see the young and old of all walks to participate in marathons, walkathons, bikathons, etc in support of Palestine. How well we do in November will help to set the stage and we're asking you to please help us reach our goal of $12,000 for one playground. Anything above that will go to the Deir Yasin Scholarship Fund, which supports Palestinian students entering university. To give, please go here to support the runners. Warmly, susie September 2008