Gareth W R Smith, Palestine Liberation Centre – Byron Bay
This heart cry from Gaza, written by Gazan poet and writer Mohammed Rafik is remarkable for its beauty, honesty and embrace of life, it would make a wonderful addition to The Echo whose values it celebrates: www.wearenotnumbers.org/home/Story/868.
Here is a brief extract:
In Gaza, beneath the dark evening sky, somewhere between the smoky smell of gunshots and the crying children, my mother gave birth to me. It was underneath the light of the moon that I would exit her womb head first, toward the flames of war. If I had then the cognitive awareness of what war was, I might have slipped back into the refuge of a womb. Instead, the only option was, and continues to be, to live through it.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
