How these Laurier student clubs are raising awareness and fundraising for ongoing genocide overseas
Wilfrid Laurier University’s Brantford Muslim Students’ Association (MSA) held a Palestine Awareness Week on campus from Tuesday, Oct. 8 to Thursday, Oct. 10, as the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack has passed.
Each day of the week features events, like tote bag painting and documentary film viewing, a Krispy Kreme and Palestine merchandise fundraiser and a cultural and heritage learning experience.
“It’s a really significant day for a lot of Palestinians across the globe because [this week] does mark one year since the documented genocide, even though it has been going on for 76 plus years. So, we wanted to do some activities and some fundraiser efforts,” said Maham Wyne, a fourth-year criminology student and one of the presidents of the MSA.
Laurier Brantford’s MSA and Middle Eastern Students’ Association (MESA) have been working together to put on events for Palestine Awareness Week.
“It’s good to coordinate these for students, especially because there are some people who have been personally affected by what’s going on in these countries, specifically Palestine and Lebanon right now,” said Ealaf Al-Saadi, a fourth-year criminology student, MSA event coordinator and MESA co-voice-president of external affairs.
On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas, a Palestinian political militant group, launched an attack on Israel that killed about 1,200 people, including 800 civilians, 346 Israel Defense Forces soldiers and 66 police officers according to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This marked the start of the Israel-Hamas war and ongoing violence in Gaza. Since then, at least 41,788 people have been killed in Gaza, including more than16,900 children and around 11,500 women, with 96,794 civilians injured, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.
“[Because of the situation overseas,] there are a lot of stressors and this might affect how students cope and go about their day. It might stress them out and affect their schoolwork,” said Al-Saadi. “So, we’re just doing these events to support them.”
A paint night titled Paint and Perspective was a success, said Wyne.
“A lot of people got to paint some tote bags with the Palestinian colors and flags, which is nice and it did garner some discussion as well,” she said.
The Krispy Kreme fundraiser, titled Sweet Solidarity, was run on behalf of Islamic Relief and a portion of the proceeds go towards Palestine, Lebanon, Yemen and Sudan. The donuts were sold for $2 individually, $5 for three donuts and $22 for a dozen. In addition to the donuts students could buy t-shirts for $10, long-sleeved shirts for $12 and tote bags for $8. All the merchandise sold at the booth were created by a Palestinian Laurier student.
“They’ve honestly been such a success. We did the fundraising last year, which was really popular, and then we brought it back this year. And even last night we had a good turnout of a bunch of students coming out,” said Wyne. “It seems like a lot of people have been supporting us. It’s just been so positive so far. The reaction has been very good, I haven’t gotten any sort of negative reaction.”
To cap off the week, an immersive learning experience titled Echoes of Palestine takes place on Thursday, Oct. 10 at 7 p.m. in One Market, room 207. This event is focused on learning and aims to “raise awareness about the ongoing genocide and appreciate the culture on its own,” said Wyne.
Both Al-Saadi and Wyne encourage students to get involved on campus and educate themselves by checking their associations’ social media pages and coming to the events they host to learn more.
