It is impossible to keep track of all the locations where the banners are used. Today I tried to update the page with some highlights & diverse events. It is really impressive. You can see it on the website under ‘MEDIA’. Thank you all for using the banners and sharing your pictures with us. Also I am happy to know that we reach a lot of media. Also foreign media. This means that people in Gaza also know that at least we are thinking of them and remembering their martyrs.

Two special mentions:

1. Six different posters are out! You can find them on the website under ‘USE’. Also we have printed a batch. They will be visible in upcoming events.
2. At the past ICT events the banners were shown on the big screens during the breaks and before / after the hearings / sessions.

While the end of 2023 is approaching and we are all counting down to ceasefire, we know there will be many more hardships. It is more important than ever to keep pointing out we are talking about human lives that are destroyed. The lives of mainly children, including very young babies. Mothers, fathers, grandparents, friends, funny, serious, intelligent, sportive, artistic.... any kind of people.

Not only the bombing causes so many deaths. Also the destruction of hospitals, destroying of places where people sought shelter, the refusal of aid (food, clean water, medicins, cloths...) and the winter that entered also Gaza. 

Let's keep talking about the people. Those who got killed and those that are struggling to survive.

The new postcards are also ready. They are spread in NL, but they can also be downloaded from the website.

It has been a while since an update I realize…

?? Banners keep spreading. They show up everywhere. A specific event to mention is the display of 8000 children shoes last week in Rotterdam bij Plant een Olijfboom. After Christmas we will organize this in Amsterdam. 

There was a lot of coverage of this event, including on international media. As a group we discussed that one of our aims is that people in Gaza know they are not forgotten, so this international display is important.

https://www.trtworld.com/middle-east/in-pictures-netherlands-event-honours-8000-gaza-children-killed-by-israel-16327128

https://www.newarab.com/features/rotterdam-mourns-gazas-children-baby-shoes-never-worn

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C1F0r0sO3xM/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

?? The Christmas postcards are spread in Christmas markets, at events/protests/vigils they appear in Christmas trees and in different towns cardwritig sessions took place. Here a nice complation of one of them.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C1DFnFMIRuL/?igshid=ZTcxMWMzOWQ1OA==

?? Tomorrow at Christmas eve we organize another candle event. With of course the banners.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C1Htq93oqjK/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

?? The first poster is ready!! More to follow.

https://theyhavenames.net/post-cards-and-posters/

?? More postcards (without Christmas theme) will also follow soon.

?? The media workers / journalists banner is now finally nearly ready. And we started with a banner for West Bank victims to show that this is really not about Hamas and also that it did not start at Oct 7.  After this we can continue with health workers, children, artists …

?? The stories on the website are not progressing very quickly. I also found the explanation for this. The situation is so ridiculously urgent that it feels more needed to go out on the streets, to write, to organize. Also people in and from Gaza cannot talk much about deceased loves ones. They have the urgent matter of keeping the living ones alive. The website has no hurry. But we owe the victims a place on it. We will continue. Even if it is slowly. And when ceasefire finally comes we can put more focus on this.

?? I started organizing backups of all our work.

I personally find it hard sometimes to keep going. There is so much suffering and horror and you feel so helpless. And than I think of the people in Gaza. How are they supposed to keep going if we already give up. So let’s continue to do these small things: Making clear that they are not numbers.