Dubai-based photographer and filmmaker Celia Peterson was so moved by what she saw when she visited Gaza for the first time, she decided she had to do something to help those in need there.
She is now put the fruits of her labour towards helping the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF) raise money for a much-needed children’s cancer hospital in the war-ravaged territory.
“I’ve been a photographer for 15 years, shooting a mixture of commercial and editorial, and more recently moving to a documentary style of long-term, post-war zone reportage, as well as film making, but I had no idea how I was going to react in Gaza,” Peterson says. “I’d never seen anything like it – there was such devastation. People say to me, ‘Were you traumatised?’ But really it’s not my experience. I get to fly away and go home and eat nice food afterwards. The Gazans don’t.”
The main reason for the visit to Gaza was a personal photography and film project, but Peterson made the most of her time there. In addition to working on her own project, she shot two short films as well – one for the charity Thirsting for Justice, which campaigns for Palestinian water rights in the infrastructure-devastated territories, and one to help with PCRF’s fund raising campaign.
She is also donating her photographs and films to an exhibition PCRF is holding at Art Plus in Dubai, which will open on March 22.
“It was just two and a half weeks after last year’s ceasefire that I was there,” says Peterson. “I was lucky to get a visa as normally you’d have to be an aid worker, news journalist or doctor to get in.
“I was really surprised that people weren’t more angry – but I think they were still at that depressed, ‘I can’t believe what’s happened’ stage. So many people were still just spending the whole day wandering around the ruins of their bombed-out homes, they just didn’t know what else to do.
“Perhaps the most surprising thing was the real, genuine love and warmth I felt from the average Gazan, far more than you’d ever encounter in Western Europe. Even though their homes had been destroyed, everyone would invite you in for a cup of tea, even if they had to just burn twigs in the rubble to boil the water.
“There’s really nothing you can do to prepare yourself for the destruction. You could almost understand, in a strange way, that whole built-up areas had been destroyed, but one day I went out to a more rural area with one of the many water charities in Gaza. The houses were really spread out, miles from each other but still each and every house had been individually targeted and destroyed. That was even weirder.”
It wasn’t only the destruction that Peterson found hard to comprehend – the juxtaposition of the complete devastation of some areas and other, seemingly untouched, areas was hard to fathom too.
“I stayed in Al Mathaf hotel and cultural centre on the beach in Gaza City,” she says. “It’s where all the journalists usually stay, in one of safest areas – all of the hotels are still standing. It’s a lovely hotel, with a view of the beach, and a big mosque nearby. You look out and think, ‘Am I really in Gaza?’ Then you remember that four weeks ago, four children were gunned down on this beach.
“There is also a massive water issue. Both the water and electricity infrastructure were targeted and destroyed in Operation Protective Edge. As a result of the lack of electricity, raw sewage is pumped into the sea on a daily basis.”
Despite the deceptively pleasant hotel, reminders of the trauma of war were never far away.
Peterson describes one occasion when she stopped her car to chat to two young girls through the window. Intrigued by a foreign visitor, the girls came closer – then when one of them saw the camera on Peterson’s lap she started screaming.
“She was shouting, ‘When’s the war starting again?’ The only time she’d seen a camera was when news teams were there during the bombing.
“This is when you get these reminders of where you are, when something like that happens and you know you’re in Gaza.”
Peterson plans to return to Gaza this year, noting that the days she spent there were “way too short”. For now, though, her priority is helping the PCRF hospital campaign, starting with next month’s exhibition.
“We’d had good experience with a paediatric cancer department at a hospital in the West Bank, and thought there was a big need for this in Gaza,” says Yara Al Saleh, the president of PCRF’s UAE branch. “We’re aiming to raise US$4million and we’ll be having gala dinners, iftars and Ramadan fundraisers, concerts, online and social-media campaigns.”
Al Saleh is also keen to find volunteers to help with the campaign.
“We’re a volunteer-based organisation and welcome everyone who wants to get involved or contribute, organise an event, whatever,” she says.
“There are so many ways to get creative and help to send out the message and tell the story.”
Visit www.pcrf.net to find out how you can get involved.
*The Roof Knocking exhibition opens on 22 March at Art Plus Gallery, Garhoud, Dubai.
cnewbould@thenational.ae