Durban mother joins Global Sumud Flotilla to aid Gaza
Elham Mouaffak-Hatfield in Tunisia waiting to embark on the Global Sumud Flotilla.
Image: Facebook
Elham Mouaffak-Hatfield, 47, a humanitarian from Durban North, will be sailing from Tunisia with hundreds of other delegates on the Global Sumud Flotilla - a coordinated, non-violent fleet of mostly small vessels sailing from ports across the Mediterranean to break the Israeli siege in Gaza.
Her aim is to leave a better world for her children.
Mouaffak-Hatfield is part of the South African delegation comprising activists, health professionals, artists, journalists, and everyday citizens—all committed to breaking the Israeli blockade that has gripped Gaza for 18 years.
The Palestinian Solidarity activists from across South Africa have joined a historic international coalition representing more than 40 countries united in a mission of peaceful resistance to Israel’s blockade of Gaza.
South African delegates, that include Mouaffak Hatfield, Nkosi Zwelivelile Mandela, Fatima Hendricks, Reaaz Moola, Nurain Saloojee, Jared Sacks, Zukiswa Wanner, Fazel Behra, Zaheera Soomar, and Irshaad Ahmed Chothia, are due to sail from Tunisia, while delegates from Malaysia, Brazil, Morocco, Sri Lanka, Netherlands, the US and other countries departed from Barcelona.
South Africans join the Global Sumud Flotilla to Gaza.
Image: Supplied/ Global Sumud Flotilla
Mouaffak-Hatfield said they were expected to leave from Tunisia on Thursday, but due to adverse weather and technical issues they were delayed.
Mouaffak-Hatfield, who runs Disaster Relief Support, which she started in 2021 during the floods in KwaZulu-Natal, participated in the Global March to Gaza last year in Cairo.
"I feel we are all somehow children of Palestine. We have been seeing on TV all the horrible scenes happening in Gaza. At a certain point you can't just sit back and watch others suffering and the killing of people, and do nothing.
"The flotilla is an extraordinary movement. There are children in Gaza that are starving and babies without formula. It is time for us as human civilians to take over. The government is not doing anything. It is the least we can do to give a hand and shout, 'let them eat, let the food in'," she said.
She said they were hoping to open a corridor for food and medicine and everything to enter.
"All the volunteers have left the comfort of their homes, family and children. We are all full of love and compassion. We only want to help our brothers, sisters, and children of Palestine with food, medicine, water and basic necessities that humans need.
This has nothing to do with violence. We are going in peace. We can't give up on humanity," she said.
Firoza Mayet, coordinator of the SA Global Semud Flotilla, said the solidarity movement has always supported the freedom flotilla coalition.
"We always send delegates on other flotillas. But we have never had our own boats and delegates like we have now. We are joining as a country and not as an organisation. We've got 10 delegates, an observer mission and a legal team. They will meet over 50 other boats.
"They are carrying humanitarian aid, medical equipment, nutritional aid. It's a peaceful convoy so there are no weapons," said Mayet.
She said the mission is to create a humanitarian corridor through the sea.
"We need this genocide to end immediately and we need to open these borders immediately. We need humanitarian aid and for children to stop dying the way they are dying right now. We need them to get medical assistance. There are thousands that are injured. That is the objective of the Semud Flotilla," said Mayet.