STUDENTS from St Anne’s School in Ennis have helped to raise over €780 and send three water tankers to Gaza.
As part of their Green Schools initiative where they are working towards obtaining the flag for Global Citizenship, the school has rowed behind Uisce for Gaza to help the people of Palestine.
St Anne’s have raised €780 to date which is enough to send three water trucks to Gaza. The school has already obtained Green Flags in Litter and Waste, Energy, Water, Travel and Biodiversity.
On Wednesday, arts teacher Deirdre Flynn organised a painting session where attendees used three techniques, wet on wet, wet on dry and dry on dry to paint their version of The Cliffs of Moher. The event was held as a fundraiser for Uisce for Gaza initiative and formed part of their Green Schools initiative.
Deirdre explained that the Cliffs were chosen “because it is home and it is about belonging, we are working on our flag for Global Citizenship and when you’re out at the Cliffs of Moher looking out towards the world, it does the soul good”.
Cllr Tommy Guilfoyle (SF) noted familiar faces behind the paintbrushes, “some of ye have been fighting cause for Palestine all our lives”. He said, “every time I’ve met Palestinian people and every time we tell them what they are doing whether iit is tonight, the marches on Saturday or raising flags, they start to cry in your presence and they need every ounce of support they can get when fighting against this system and regime”. He added, “their hearts will melt the fact that people of Ennis taking time out for freedom, humanity and peace”.
Speaking to The Clare Echo, Ennis native Deirdre explained that their painting session was a way of keeping things light but also maintaining a focus on Palestine. “With Palestine on the minds of so many people, it is so prominent now but it has been going on for so long, finally there seems to be a shift more into the mainstream of people now becoming more aware”. Already involved in the ‘Sip and Paint’ events in the county town, Deirdre felt this was another avenue to encourage more people to get involved.
Young people such as the St Anne’s students would put world leaders to shame with their understanding of social justice, Deirdre maintained. “Children seem to know more about the justices of the world than adults sometimes, when you put kids out in a playground they know right from wrong, somewhere along the line do we lose that keen sense of justice that children have because they seem to know better on the playground than some of their leaders which is frightening. Tonight is about positive action, something we could do as a community and to have our cares and concerns flagged within our community to say this really matters. We’re not meant to be as exposed as we are to everything going on in the world, everything is too accessible, we haven’t evolved long enough to absorb and process everything that is happening, smaller actions like this can do nothing but good for the soul. “When our wee ones seem to have a greater sense of justice, right and wrong, we need to take a pause on things but we can’t pause on this”.
Formerly part of the Resistance Choir in Dublin, Deirdre has regularly attended the Saturday marches showing solidarity with Palestine in Ennis town centre while she intends to bring her two children to the upcoming Children’s Walk for Gaza taking place in Dublin on July 4th. “Every little bit helps, we’re not sitting in the dredge of it so taking whatever action no matter how small even talking about it, then you realise quite often when you’re chatting to people that it is also a concern of theirs, the passion and outrage comes then. We could so much more, I know the Government has recognised Palestine as a State but now with the FAI, over 96 percent of their fanbase are saying we shouldn’t be playing this game, art is politics, football is politics, it’s all politics, don’t tell me it’s not”.
She continued, “It is too big for us, we’ve elected people who we expect to show leadership, it is too much to bear so in an effort to alleviate we’re bringing positive action, I was part of the resistance choir when I was living in Dublin, I’m at this a long time but it is just worsening, you think at the time when you’re in it that we’re making an impression and something will give but they prove us wrong”.
