Itani Rasalanavho (39) stopped over in Dundee last Wednesday as part of a 543km walk from Soweto to Durban.
His aim is to raise funds for urgent medical care for women and children who have been left destitute and in many cases, severely injured, during the intensive Gaza war that has been raging since October.
Rasalanavho and his back-up team were met at the entrance to Dundee by a group of local supporters.
He stressed that his journey is one of solidarity with the people of Gaza and besides raising funds, he also hopes that his undertaking will help raise awareness for the plight of the innocent in Gaza.
“The Long Walk for Gaza is part of the ‘People Against Oppression’ movement.
“We are working with institutional partners, as well as medical and rehabilitation support teams that specialise in providing prosthesis, crutches and other devices for especially women and children.”
All proceeds will be deposited into a dedicated POA account and thereafter disbursed via the Al-Imdaad Foundation to reach the children and women of Gaza for their medical care.”
Over R70,000 had been donated towards the Long Walk to Gaza project at the time of Rasalanavho’s stopover in Dundee.
Rasalanavho was born in Venda and now lives in Soweto. He saw the plight of the people of Gaza firsthand after he was allowed to go to Palestine for three months with the World Council of Churches.
“I draw my inspiration from Nelson Mandela’s Long Walk to Freedom and wanted to bring to the fore the atrocities I had seen.
“We have had a wonderful reception here in Dundee and Glencoe.
“We intended to visit 10 towns, but we are going to end up visiting 17 towns because we have added Glencoe, Colenso and other towns.
“People have been supporting the fund-raising initiative, which is great. People have put aside political differences to support humanity. The case in the International Court of Justice has certainly propelled this situation into the forefront of many people’s thoughts.”
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